Borderlands and the First Male Siren
by The Blade of Osh-Tekk
Summary: A remix on the main Borderlands 2 storyline. A lot is game based, but some chapters are more inventive. Read if you're interested.
1. Chapter 1 - Becoming a Vault Hunter

A/N: Now, this is pretty much going to be like the Borderlands 2 story, but with a couple of choice differences. Like the fact that combat is going to be more realistic. Plus, there's going to be some after adventures. Maybe a couple of pairings, but we'll get to that later. If you enjoy this story, review, favorite, and follow. P.S: This will be one of the few times we change POV if we change it at all.

* * *

Handsome Jack had his feet propped on his desk while his chair with the dopamine injectors had brought him into a state of artificial calm and happiness. At the very least, he didn't feel like sending anyone down his deathtrap of a trap door. Yet.

He closed his eyes with his face looking toward the ceiling before going in deep thought. He was still wondering how he was going to get rid of those asshats in Sanctuary. They would pay for betraying him. He would make sure of that.

Roland could go down the trap door. The former Lanceman wasn't really worth considerable effort. He was actually somewhat remorseful from what happened, but he still went along with them because he was a coward. And he would be burned, sliced, crushed all at the same time.

Lilith could possibly be... useful. Maybe he'll keep her around for her power and other funny/torturous reasons. A smile crossed his face at the thought. The collar he designed would be compel her total obedience. While keeping her freedom of speech. Only right she would get. But that's only because it would make it all the more fun. Then he remembered Moxxi.

The thought of the woman caused Jack's wide smile to disappear and be replaced with a stony look. She was the one he cared about the most next to Angel and his first wife. And she betrayed him. Oh, she would die nice and slow. Maybe he'll smother her in her on boobs after all is said and done. From the size of them, it's definitely possible. Betrayed so many times... one day he would make the pain go away. And he'll do it by killing all bandits on Pandora. Maybe he'll get his employees to use them for skin pizzas. It would be hilarious.

_"Jack?"_ he heard on the comm. Angel was the only one who had a direct line to his comm. Because she was his most effective way to find possible Vault Hunters to kill. No chances were going to be taken this time around.

"Any more candidates today Angel?" Jack asked, standing up out of his chair and looking down on Pandora. One day... one day this planet would cleansed.

_"Well, there is one. I've seen him before, but he's never really left the planet he resides at unless it's for a job,"_ Angel explained.

"A threat is a threat. I'm not taking the chance. Who is he?" Jack asked.

_"A mercenary living on Hera. Born and raised there, currently taking care of his parents, who are now paraplegics from an accident that happened a few years ago. This mercenary though... has skill unlike anyone I've seen,"_ Angel said, bringing up the mercenary's file. It gave his appearance and a few of his successful jobs, but that doesn't really merit a serious threat. Enough loaders would tear him to bits.

"How so? Because he doesn't seem like anything special," Jack said.

_"When Atlas was attempting to build outposts on Hera, they sent a battalion of Crimson Lancemen down to do so. When they tried to claim his parents' land... he took out the entire battalion himself with nothing more than a Dahl shield and pistol. He was severely injured after the battle, but somehow he did it,"_ Angel explained. Jack rubbed his chin in thought. He had to admit, that was no easy feat. From what little Lancemen were left, one Lanceman soldier was worth many loaders. A battalion is... he didn't even need to finish the sentence.

"I have to admit, that's impressive. Only those four particular gullible bandits were able to manage to do something like that and he did that himself? He is a threat with that kind of skill," Jack said.

_"Wouldn't it make more sense just to recruit him?"_ Angel suggested._ "If he survives your attempt to kill him, you just gave the enemy another ally."_

"No. Vault Hunter, assassins, mercenaries are all alike. They can't be trusted. They'll just stab you in the back and twist the blade. And you don't have to worry about me failing sweetie. Trust me, he'll be bits and pieces soon enough," Jack said, already making the necessary preparations for his plan. If all turns out well, he won't even need the Warrior to wipe out Sanctuary. (Ok, now we're getting to my OC)

* * *

I approached my house, moving my wrists in circles to crack them before I did the same with my neck and shoulders. This job wasn't particularly difficult, but it took a while to finish. I walked inside and collapsed on the couch next to my dad.

"Another day, another successful assassination," I said upon walking in the house.

"Who was the unlucky victim this time?" my dad said, looking from his paper to me.

"Just a thief. Easy to track down, even easier to kill. The pay isn't lacking, thank God, but..."

"You want a challenge," my dad finished. "I was the same way when I was your age. I got a challenge and met my match. The reward? An eternity confined to this chair along with your mother."

"The last challenge I had is when Atlas tried to take our land. I never fought so hard in my life. I nearly died," I said. I traced the X shaped scar on my face and unconsciously flexed my shoulders. I had never been shot so much in my life.

"All you had on your side was a Dahl pistol and shield. It's a feat that you even won," my dad told me. "I remember when we had to patch you up. You couldn't take on a job for weeks. The Crimson Lancemen are some of the most trained mercs out there and you took out a battalion of them. If that doesn't scream skill, I don't know what does."

I knew he was right. It's just... I had grown to love my job, but when it gets to easy, it gets stale really quickly. I needed something new in my life.

_"And now this just in with Hunter Hellquist,"_ the radio said.

"Isn't that the Hyperion radio guy? Why are you listening to him?" I asked.

"Pandora's having a lot of bandit issues lately, which Hyperion is trying to get under control. Some of the stuff they say is pretty interesting," my dad said.

"If any of the rumors about Pandora are true, you can die within minutes of setting foot on the planet's surface," I said dryly. My dad chuckled.

"Yeah, that's kind of how it works. Hey, there's your challenge. Live on that planet for the rest of your life without anyone killing you," he said.

"No, I think Hera is completely fine. Plus I don't have a shuttle to get us there. Next one isn't coming for a while. I could build one, but it would take forever," I said.

_"This is a message for mercenary Robert Morgan on the planet of Hera,"_ Hunter Hellquist said, making me look at the radio with a wide eyed expression. I was shocked. Why was I being called out by Hyperion?

"Just what did you do?" my dad asked me. I didn't answer cause I wanted to keep listening, trying to take ahold of every word.

_"We at Hyperion have a job for you. We ask you to come to Pandora to open the Vault and help Hyperion wipe out the bandit population. Should you succeed, the riches of the Vault are all yours. All of the money and power you can imagine. If you are interested, contact the Hyperion hotline and we shall send a shuttle to your location. And don't worry about your parents. We at Hyperion have trained soldiers, engineers, and loaders on our side. They will be well taken care of. This message is a courtesy of Handsome Jack himself. This is Hunter Hellquist, signing off," _Hunter Hellquist explained.

My eyes widened even more. An opportunity to open the Vault? I thought the Vault was a myth. If it's true, then I won't ever have to pull another job ever again. Plus, I think it'll be enough to merit retirement.

"Should I go? I don't like leaving you here. I don't trust anyone who's not you, mom, or myself," I said.

"I think you should go. You wanted a challenge? Well, Hyperion is giving you just that. The Vault will ensure you can retire as soon as you open it, you'll actually help bring order to Pandora, and you'll have Hyperion backing you all the while. The first time the Vault opened, Hyperion got rich off of the Eridium in there, and are now one of the most powerful corporation in all of the galaxies, if not the most powerful. They obviously know about the thing with that Lancemen, recognize your skill, and are looking for you to help them. From what I hear, cleaning up Pandora is a struggle," my dad explained thoroughly.

I crossed my arms and my face morphed into a thoughtful one. This would probably be an even bigger challenge than the Lancemen if I have to fight a giant Vault monster to do it. But the reward was even greater than the risk.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go for it. You want to tell mom I'm leaving?" I asked.

"No, I think you want to do that yourself. She might process it better if she hears it from you," my dad said.

"You're right. I would. And I was right here the whole time, thank you very much," my mom said from the doorway of my parents' room. "While I do not want to see you go, I was actually expecting you to leave the planet a while ago. Go on and open the Vault. And become as I like to say: A rich bitch," my mom said grinning.

I smiled widely. This is why I liked my mom. She was badass.

"Then looks like I'm heading to Pandora," I said, going to go pack. If I knew that's the last time I would've seen them, I would've never have left.

* * *

A/N: Did you like it or hate it? Again, no flames if you didn't just ignore my story. If you do like it, review, favorite and follow. We'll see what happens for the first chapter. Adios everyone.


	2. Chapter 2- Welcome to Pandora Kiddo!

A/N: Here's my character's gear currently: Dahl shield, 2 Dahl pistols(fire and non-elemental), Torgue assault rifle, Tediore SMG, Jakobs sniper and shotgun. Really the only thing you need to know right now.

* * *

I was able to contact Hyperion on their hotline, like Hunter Hellquist said, and they sent a shuttle down to pick me up. They had about 5 loaders guarding my parents' house, which was the most I could ask for while I was gone.

So I flew down to Pandora with one of the Engineers who was piloting the thing, and he told me to find the train that was a few clicks Northeast. But not before giving me a little advice.

"If you see anything move, shoot it. You don't want to take any chances on Pandora," he suggested before flying off. And he was right about that.

As I traveled through a place that, according to my ECHO was called the Tundra Express, I had come across a couple of small bug looking creatures that attempted to attack me as soon as they saw. Luckily, I had a fire Dahl pistol, which they did not seem to like at all. Then came the bandits. I came across a few of them on the porches of houses that were spread across the terrain. They seemed to know I was a Vault Hunter and just started shooting me for it. My shield absorbed his first few bullets before I finally reacted and put a quick bullet from my pistol in his skull. Unfortunately for him, he did not have a shield. The bullet seemed to react after it penetrated his skull, and caused his head to explode in bone, blood, and fire. I loved every bit of it.

After traveling for a while, I could find the train station, but I could see that it was filled with bandits. I could assume because of the fact that they were called bandits, that they were trying to rob the place.

Luckily I they didn't know I was here yet, and I was good with stealth as well as shooting.

I lowered myself to a crouch and jumped on the back of a nomad before quickly grabbing knife from the holster on my boot and stabbed him from inside his hood. He went down without a noise.

There were only two left on the bottom area, and I stabbed a gunner in the throat while covering his mouth and he fell without complaint.

The last one quickly turned around and acknowledged my presence to every bandit in the surrounding area, but by then, I had already brained another him with my sniper.

Then I started heading upstairs where they were already waiting for me. When the bullets started flying, I quickly took cover behind a box and swapped to a Tediore SMG, ready to start shooting back.

I immediately took aim and started shooting the nomads that had shields. It was pretty much bullet resistant, so I aimed for his foot. He stumbled and bended over, revealing his head. I quickly took the opportunity to put several bullets in his head, dropping him instantly. There were other bandits firing at me with SMG's and were trying to pin me down. You had to be good to be a Vault Hunter. Otherwise, you'd die from the pressure of the bandits' forces.

"I NEED ANOTHER HEAD FOR MY MERRY-GO-ROUND! YOURS IS PERFECT!" I could hear a crazed voice yell.

Behind me was a bandit wearing a mask and had crazed looking eyes. His axe was caked with blood and what I could assume was a piece of some type of organ. Pleasant.

He started charging toward me without a care in the world, which wasn't exactly the smartest thing. When he came around the corner, I tripped him up with my legs, not 1 inch of my body leaving the cover and I sliced his head off using his own axe.

With a careful throw, I tossed the axe toward one of bandits pinning me down, and it pretty much ignored his shield and sliced a big cut in his head, making him crumble to the ground.

"Got a headache?" I said with a smirk. It was a horrible pun, but fitting.

Then I decided to discard the rest of my clip and throw my Tediore gun, exploding as soon as it hit one of the bandits. It took out his shield and knocked him back a little. I then blasted him in the head with my SMG and he crumbled. There was only 2 bandits left pinning me down, so I swapped to my sniper and went to work.

Using my quick eye, I shot both bandits in the head in a quick succession. Sniping was always something I was good at. At long last, I was able to get to the train.

"Scanning bio-signature," a robotic voice said.

A scanner that somewhat resembled an eye was revealed from under the train's hull. A bluish beam passed over my body and I got a strange sensation from it.

"Bio-signature confirmed. Welcome, Morgan Robert, Vault Hunter. Please board the train," the robotic voice said, a door on the train opening.

I walked aboard the train and it immediately started moving. There were other people here. Guess I wasn't the only one interested in the Vault, which is understandable.

I sat down in a seat and noticed a sign at the top with Jack having his arms spread out into a warm gesture. It said in big letters: "Welcome, Vault Hunters!"

"That's friendly," I said, with a small smirk.

I wondered where the train was taking us. Maybe a Hyperion base where we could get some updates about the Vault's location as well as bandits. Where we need to hit, and how hard.

I took out my pocket knife and began to twirl it between my fingers. It was a knife my dad had used in his mercenary days. It was made of Poly-Kryten, which was only ineffective if I stabbed it in a skag's mouth, because skag bile is the only thing able to dissolve it. I always kept it on me. I didn't even keep it in my ECHO. If I lost my ECHO, I lost my knife, and that's something that would kill me to do. So I keep it strapped to my boot firmly.

As I sat there for about 10 more minutes, I head a loud explosion going on outside of the train. I immediately stood up and pulled out both of my Dahl pistols. The other Vault Hunters in the compartment drew guns as well. Were bandits somehow boarding the train? But bandits weren't the problem.

Eventually, I heard a loud siren and quickly wheeled around. The sign that I saw earlier changed from "Welcome Vault Hunter" to "To you doom"(nothing personal). Then I could see loaders begin to digistruct in the train, and I don't think they were here to say hello to me.

"Fuck," I said, swapping the pistols for my Torgue assault rifle.

I took aim and fired at the 3 loaders that had formed in front of me. Torgue assault rifles can have an almost Vladof rate of fire when you continue to fire it. Aiming for their red eyes, they dropped with very little effort. My fellow Vault Hunters began to fight along with me, but were quickly gunned down.

"Dammit," I cursed. This wasn't the plan.

Then I could feel bullets hitting the back of my shield, and a recharger(hence the Dahl shield) fell to the ground. I quickly grabbed it so my shield wouldn't deplete and quickly took cover on a narrow wall. I had to stand like a mannequin in order to be in a position where I wouldn't get shot.

I quickly turned the corner and tossed a Tesla grenade. It was electricity, and I was thinking they would resist it, but on the contrary, they began to drop quickly.

A loud crash from the ceiling signaled the arrival of 2 Engineers with giant metal fists attached to their wrists. One of them took a swing at me and I side stepped him and instantly dropped my gun, replacing it with my knife to stab him in the throat. I unsheathed the knife from his throat before tossing his body at the other engineer.

The engineer batted his ally's corpse, but as soon as his body was cleared, I threw my knife straight at his forehead. He crumbled instantly. I grabbed my knife and my gun before swapping to my un-elemental Dahl pistol. I came across several loaders, but I was able to quickly hit their eyes and they dropped easily. I knew I finally made it to the last compartment and kicked the door off its hinges, but the sight was not what I was expecting.

It was Jack. Well, sort of. It was a doll version of him with enough explosives to…

"Destroy the train! SHIT!" I said, taking off running the other direction before the explosives went off. I went flying through the air like I was free falling. It felt like it would never end. Until I hit the ground. Hard. I could feel my knife still in place, which was a relief, but my ECHO was gone. Which meant my guns, money, and any form of contacting anyone was gone. It doesn't help that I don't know where I am.

Why'd Jack betray me? You know what? Fuck the why. All I knew is that I wanted revenge.

"You're dead Jack," I moaned weakly before passing out face first in the snow.

* * *

A/N: Ok! I hope that chapter was a lot more interesting. I had a lot of fun writing it. Review and tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3- Most Annoying Robot Ever

A/N: Like I said, this would be almost an exactly replica of Borderlands 2 story, but no side missions until Jack is dead. Well, a few will be incorporated. Ones that are important like Assassinate the Assassins and In Memoriam. Sanctuary is at risk if my character doesn't kill the assassins, and another New Haven might happen if Lilith's death is discovered to be false. If you're wondering, the Siren powers aren't going to come until much later. My Siren is also an omnipotent one, which means all powerful. The more Eridium my character absorbs, the more his powers develop. You might like some of the ones I've come up with. But I include Phasewalk, lock, shift. I'll go more into detail about it another time. Time to meet the most annoying robot ever.

I slowly opened my eyes like I had just come from a deep sleep. The thing I first acknowledged was the burning sensation that was… well, everywhere. My skin felt slightly burned and I could barely move from the pain. Then everything came rushing back at once. Jack, the loaders, explosives. Why did he want to kill me? I was trying to help him out.

But why was not the issue. Suddenly, I was hit with a drive to not let him get away with this. First, I had to get to my feet.

"Great, another dead Vault Hunter. Handsome Jack's been busy," a voice said. It was slightly robotic and I could hear digging in the snow. I collected myself and was able to find stable footing. I was kneeling, but it was stable.

"Wait a minute. You're not dead!" the robot exclaimed.

"Does it look like I'm dead?" I said sharply. But he didn't seem to hear me.

"YES! Now I can get off of this glacier. Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has finally come in!" he said.

"What are you?" I asked. He was unlike any robot I had ever seen. He was slightly coned shaped and had one wheel supporting himself. There was one eye on him, similar to the scanners Hyperion used and his hands were like flat, rectangular tongs. And his voice was very annoying. It hit me like a skag bite.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am a CL4P-TP steward bot. But my friends call me Claptrap! Or they would if any of them were still alive! Or had existed in the first place! Oh, I've got something for you!" Claptrap exclaimed, digging in the snow. Then he handed me an ECHO of one of the dead passengers. I remember seeing corpses on the ground when I was rushing to the front of the train. I guess I wasn't the only Vault Hunter on board. I wonder how they got on with all of the bandits.

"Here! Take this ECHO recorder that I totally didn't loot from one of these corpses! It comes with a class 12 heads up display and a mini-map. Now, come come friend. Let's get you inside," Claptrap said.

"Where exactly is i-inside," I said with a slight shiver. Now the cold was starting to get to me a little.

"Just follow me!" Claptrap exclaimed.

Then something happened that caused me to jump in fright. A strange looking woman, who looked like an angel I suppose, appeared in my field of vision. I guess she was using the ECHO as a form of transmission.

"I'll explain everything soon, but know this. You're alive for a reason. And I am here to help you," she said with a warm smile.

"Ok then," I said, my heart still racing a little from the surprise. Then I began to follow Claptrap.

"Man, this is great! Now that I've met a mighty Vault Hunter, I can finally join the resistance in Sanctuary, take vengeance Jack from killing my product line, and repair my central processor, so I stop thinking out loud! I wonder what it's like to have a belly button," he said randomly. The more I listened to this robot, the more I wanted to punt him across the glacier. But I had no options, so this robot was all I had if I wanted to get out of here.

Eventually, I cam into sight with a sort of… I guess you could call it a house, and it said 'Welcome' in holographic letters.

"Well done! Your ability to walk short distances without dying will be Handsome Jack's downfall!" Claptrap said, before going up to the door. On the door, it had an eye similar to his. I think it worked like the scanner on the train?

"And open!" Claptrap exclaimed before a bluish beam started scanning him. Yep. Thought so.

"Just a little added security. Got to keep those Bullymongs at bay, or they'll rip your eyes out!" Claptrap exclaimed.

This was the first thing he said to me that I found interesting the entire time he's been talking.

"What's a Bullymong?" I asked.

"It's a creature with 4 arms and it's really strong! I've seen Knuckle Dragger tear apart Claptraps in front of me! Though he can't get in here," Claptrap said, wheeling through through the door. When I walked in, the place was cluttered with corpses and other Claptrap units.

"Sorry about the mess! Everything Jack kills, he dumps here! Bandits, Vault Hunters, Claptrap units! If I sound pleased about this, it's only because my programmer made this my default tone of voice! I'm actually quite depressed!" Claptrap exclaimed.

_"Why? Why in God's name did you make his voice like this? You trying to give everyone a headache?" _I thought.

"Now, the creatures around here are dangerous. None more than this bullymong named Knuckle Dragger. Killed everyone I know," Claptrap said, a long pause after that statement. "Anywho, I keep a pistol in the cabinet for emergencies, but in here, we should be pretty safe!"

No sooner than he said that, a loud roar that reverbrated off the walls of the cave. Then a large, ape-like creature swung in through the ceiling.

_"Safe? There's a large hole the ceiling!" _I thought.

"MY EYE! AHHH!" Claptrap yelled.

True to Claptrap's word, the bullymong took Claptrap's eye from his socket and left the he came. I've wanted to do something similar all day, but that was bad news bears all around. I had no idea how to get to Sanctuary and Claptrap did. Without his eye, we have no way to get there. So I had no choice but to go after that creature. Problem was I had no gun. I wasn't even in decent enough shape to throw a punch.

"The gun... the gun in the cabinet," Claptrap moaned weakly. Then my eyes widened at remembering said gun and quickly went over to the cabinet.

When I opened it, pistol mags, Anshin health hypos, and a Dahl pistol fell out. I instantly went for the pistol and changed the mag.

"Well, hello. You're going to help me blow some heads off," I said, cocking the back of the gun with a loud snap. I took the hypos and injected myself with them. The burns from the explosion were healed the pain, but the marks were too severe to disappear. I figured I would just have to live with them. Then the strange woman, who I decided to call 'Angel' for the time being, appeared within my line of sight again.

"5 years ago, 4 Vault Hunters changed Pandora forever. But their time has passed. Thanks to Handsome Jack. Pandora needs a new hero. I know that hero is you," she said.

"Don't put all your hope in me yet," I said, twirling the gun in my right index finger before holstering it. I watched Claptrap crash into stuff for the past few seconds before I decided to speak up.

"Claptrap, you alright?" I asked.

"Apart from the excruciating pain, this is great! I've been waiting for a mighty Vault Hunter to help me reach Sanctuary! I will be your wise leader! And you shall be my fearsome minion!" Claptrap exclaimed, laughing like a madman.

I sighed heavily.

"Oh, dear Lord, what have I gotten myself into?" I said to no one in particular, looking up at the ceiling in exasperation.

I saw Claptrap go through something like a skag door, but molded into his cone shape. Then the door opened. I guess even without his eye, he knew the place pretty well. So he was of some good use.

"Great! Let me get this door open and we'll hunt ourselves a Bullymong!" Claptrap said, bounding up and down. Then he started typing on the next console and the door opened.

"Onward, seeing eye minion! Let me know if I'm going to run into anything!" he exclaimed. I deliberately watched him wheel straight into an ice formation.

"I'm not your minion," I said, crossing my arms.

"I'll just assume you didn't see that," Claptrap said, continuing forward. I rolled my eyes. This robot was trying my patience.

"Even though Knuckle Dragger blindsided me, I know my way around this glacier. I bet we'll find my eye in Frostbite Crevasse ," Claptrap said, moving blindly. I simply followed him as he blindly moved through the tundra. I kept on my guard because I don't trust other Bullymongs besides Knuckle Dragger to try and stop us.

"Stick close the robot," Angel said. "He will help you get off this glacier and into the city of Sanctuary. That is the only place you will be safe."

"Without killing him in the process?" I quipped.

"Try your best," Angel said, but I noticed Claptrap suddenly stop and look around in a panic.

As soon as I heard a loud roar, I instantly went for my pistol and had it at the ready.

"Ahh! I hear Bullymongs! Sic em minion! PROTECT ME SQUIRE!" Claptrap yelled, hiding in his 'skin'. I rolled my eyes and blasted one of the jumping Bullymongs in the head as it fell. The other attempted to charge toward me, but I instantly headshotted it, but it kept going. So I alternated to burst fire and it collapsed a meter from me.

Then a loud crash made me jump back and hold my gun out in front of me. More Bullymongs started approaching after breaking through a solid ice wall. I hit one with a couple of bullets, but the other jumped at me with an intent to bash my face in. Before it landed, I pulled out my knife and stabbed it in the face before throwing him off my face. I spit out the blood that dripped from the wound, which tasted like pure shit, unlike a person's naturally salty blood. It isn't necessarily good, but it's not _that _bad.

"Let's go! If we don't get my eye back, we'll never get to Sanctuary!" Claptrap said, wheeling past me.

I rolled my eyes at the robot and followed him with my pistol at the ready.

Then suddenly the ground shook and I had to fight to keep my balance. Claptrap completely fell face first.

"Ugh- AGAIN?! Jack's been tearing Pandora apart to find the Vault. They say Jack's drilling operations are causing those earthquakes. That, or your mom just got out of bed! ZING!" Claptrap exclaimed.

I was so pissed off at the statement, I punted him off of the ledge without a thought of what might happen.

"Someone can't take a joke," Angel said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes with this pest," I said, my voice moody.

"Pest or not, you need that funny little robot's help to reach Sanctuary, the last bastion of the resistance against Jack, and the only place you'll be truly safe. Get to Sanctuary," I said.

"Alright then. I'll try to keep my cool," I said, jumping down to find Claptrap. I could see him flailing in the snow. But a roar told me more Bullymongs showed up. So I turned to start shooting them.

"Hey, what's that noise? Are you fighting?" Claptrap asked, his voice muffled.

"What do you think?" I snapped, blasting another Bullymong in head. Then a Bullymong a lot bigger than the ones I've been fighting walked out of one of the holes that they seem to sleep in. I need to burst fire sessions to take it out.

"Great! Now get me out of here before more Bullymongs arrive," Claptrap said, wiggling in the snow.

I went over to him and roughly yanked his head out of the snow.

"Many thanks, friend of friends! Onward!" he exclaimed. Then the last person I expected to hear from contacted me.

"Hey kiddo, Jack here. President of Hyperion. Let me explain something to you. Vault Hunter shows up, Vault Hunter looks for the new Vault, Vault Hunter gets killed. By me. Seeing the problem here? You're still alive. So if you can do me a favor and off yourself, that'd be great. Thanks pumpkin," Jack said.

"Fuck off. Mark my words, you're a dead man," I snarled.

Claptrap opened the next door and suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Oh! My eye just switched back on! I see a tough looking minion, and an incredible handsome robot. Which means that whoever has my eye..."

"Is close by," I said, watching Knuckle Dragger come into my line of sight. I could see Claptrap's eye around its neck like a necklace. I saw grab a broken car and throw it into the ground in front of me. He then landed and roared loudly. I'm pretty sure it was a way expressing dominance over me.

"Bitch please," I said, hitting him with all 4 bullets of the burst fire pistol. I continued to fire, but none of the shots even fazed him, regardless of the fact that they were straight headshots. I had to swap my mag twice, but then I saw Knuckle Dragger jump up to the high cliff.

"Oh God! They're coming out of the wall-sphincters!" Claptrap exclaimed.

I looked up to see, sure enough, more Bullymongs were coming out of the holes in the ice formation. Knuckle Dragger then bounded up to me and would've flattened my face if I didn't dive out of the way.(They need to make a diving system on Borderlands) Then he retreated back and went for another car and I decided to quickly grab a small Bullymong and tossed it at the car while blasting a jumping 'Monglet' in the head with my right hand, which was open. The car exploded once the Monglet made contact with the car.

But while I was preoccupied with this, Knuckle Dragger bound up to and punched me down to the ground. I could hear my ribs break from the impact. I let a gasp from the burning in my ribs before rolling over to the side as he made another leap at me. I rose to my feet and kept my stance as steady as I could. There were still 2 large Bullymongs and Knuckle Dragger to deal with. So I decided to deal with the biggest threat first.

I broke into a run toward Knuckle Dragger and he decided to act by tossing rocks at me. I jumped to the side and dodged it before sliding under Knuckle Dragger and impaling my knife under its mouth. Somehow I managed to hold on to his body with my legs upside down in order to stab the knife in the first place, which was impressive on my part. He let out a loud roar, but I wasn't done yet. By the looks of how small their heads are, the space between their brains and chin wasn't very far apart. When I jumped on his back, I grabbed the handle of the knife and forced it upward as hard as I could. As soon as I could see the tip of my knife on the top of his head, I knew the job was done. Amazingly, all the other Bullymongs did was sit back and watch. But as soon as their leader collapsed, they roared and both made a leap at me. Diving out of the way, I was hit by a sudden spasm of pain and dropped my pistol. I bent to pick it back up, and they started throwing rocks at me. I quickly shot both rocks out of the air then hit one of the Bullymongs with burst fire. The remaining one charged towards me and I simply emptied the last 3 bullets of the clip into its head and it crumbled.

"Now that... was a challenge," I said, breathing shallowly and painfully. "I wish I had my shield."

"Woohoo! If you would, retrieve my eye for me. Oh, and I apologize for saying wall-sphincters. I say that a lot when I'm frightened," Claptrap said.

I picked up his eye up off of the ground and started searching the piles around. One had about $40 of cash in it, a Jakobs pistol, and ammo for assault rifles, which was useless right now. I never used their pistols. Only their snipers and shotguns. But it wouldn't hurt to try it out.

"Ok, got it," I said.

"Got my eye? Great! Now, we just to get someone to put it back into me. Much as I'm sure you'd like to jam your fist into my skull, optic surgery is best left to professionals. My friend Hammerlock in Liar's Berg can fix me up! Allons-y!" Claptrap said, wheeling up to a large metal door. "Liar's Berg is on the other side of this Hyperion barge. Let's say we cut through it chum?"

"Fucking Hyperion," I said, my tone angry again in a split second. "Think you can get it open?"

"Ha! This door's Hyperion tech! Child's play! And... open!" Claptrap said, spreading his arms out as the door scanned him.

"Intruders detected. Locking door," the robotic voice said, sealing the door.

"Great. I always could try to climb over," I said.

"Unnecessary. Let me get that for you. Executing Phase Shift," Angel said. And then the door opened.

"Hah! I knew I'd get it eventually!" Claptrap said.

"You, shut up," I snarled. But my tone turned grateful as I spoke to Angel. "Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome! Perks of being an Artificial Intelligence. I'm networked into almost everything on this planet," Angel said.

"That'll be a big help along the way. Anyway, how long until we get to Sanctuary?" I asked.

"It's a long journey. Please take whatever you need for the journey ahead," Angel said.

I'm sure she meant the various crates in the barge. I opened the biggest one and it gave me a Jakobs shotgun along with shotgun ammo. The other supply boxes helped me max out my ammo.

"Let me know when you're ready to meet with Sir Hammerlock, minion," Claptrap said.

"Do you have any money? I'm helping you get off of this glacier after all," I said. Even though I was benefitting from this too, I wanted some compensation for dealing with him.

"Just this," Claptrap said, digging into a compartment on him and handing me $10. Right now, that was worth a lot. Then he strode over to the control panel and unlocked the area to Liar's Berg.

"Let's go minion! Or... not. We'll go at your pace! I'm obviously the brains of this operation, but you're the Vault Hunter with the brawn. And the guns. And the power of sight," Claptrap said.

"And you're supposed to be a paragon on brain power? Then it amazes me that I'm as smart as I am. I got smarts and street smarts. The only brains you have is how to navigate this area blindly. Talk down to me again, and I'm going to feed you to the Bullymongs, get me?" I snapped.

"Ok," Claptrap said meekly.

"Good. Let's go," I said.

A/N: I liked writing this chapter as well. Yes, I do think Bullymongs are strong enough to break bones in one strike. Claptrap irritated the shit out of in story, so this is a summary of what I would say if I had to deal with him. See you next time


	4. Chapter 4- Liberating Liar's Berg

A/N: Happy to be back! Besides my Harry Potter fanfiction, I'm really looking forward to where this story starts going in the foreseeable future. Hopefully I can get more support. Don't be skimpy with the reviews people.

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After going through the barge, me and Claptrap walked out of the opening to come out on the top of a mountain. I'm sure we had to go down it to get to Liar's Berg.

"Keep your wits about you minion. This glacier's run by a bandit named a bandit named Captain Flynt. The jerk kept me as his torture plaything for a few months. We played games like, 'dodge the blowtorch' or 'don't get dunked in the pool of acid.' I was really good at the first one," Claptrap said, before promptly falling down the mountain. As much as I hated this robot, I don't like the fact that a bandit king was torturing him. Though he's a robot and technically can't feel pain, right?

Anyway, I could see bullymongs were waiting for me at the bottom of the mountain, so I jumped down the mountain in one leap, and strangely enough, my legs didn't even buckle from the impact. I instantly in hit the nearest Bullymong with a blast from my newly acquired shotgun and it dropped him easily, his body devoid of a head.

"Attention people of Pandora, Handsome Jack here, offering a million bucks to whoever brings me the head of the Vault Hunter who just arrived in Liar's Berg. Oh, and I'm still offering a reward for Roland, the mass murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders. Good hunting bandits!" Jack said on the ECHO.

"Fuck me. Now everyone in this town wants to kill me," I said, as I killed the last Bullymong. Well, more than they did now.

"A million bucks? Alright boys, this is Captain Flynt. I want you to find that Vault Hunter, and bring him to me NOW!" Flynt yelled.

"Hey Hammerlock!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"Spectacular! First Captain Flynt's bandits attack, then Claptrap shows up! I must've been horrifying cruel to puppies to deserve this type of treatment. I say, Vault Hunter, could you kill Flynt's men for me?" Hammerlock asked. I smirked at his reaction to Claptrap's arrival. I had a feeling we were going to get along just fine.

"Gladly," I said before speaking on the ECHO, directly to Flynt. "I'm not going out without a fight you fucker. You want me? Come get me. I'm outside the gate. Open it, and we'll talk bullets."

"My pleasure. The reward on your head can buy an awful lot of fuel, Vault Hunter. I'd tell this isn't gonna hurt, but then I'd be lying," he said, sounding amused.

I could see the gate opening and I smirked. This wouldn't take long.

I could see bandits running towards us, and Claptrap immediately took off running. I swapped to my Jakobs pistol and instantly blasted a bandit in the head. With no shield, even from long range, a Jakobs will tear your skull right down the middle.

"Got a proposition for ya, Vault Hunter. You give up, we'll just shoot you in the head. It'll be quick, clean, and a hell of a lot less painful than what Handsome Jack will do to you," Flynt said, as I was tearing through his bandits more or less by chain blasting them in the head. They didn't wear shields, which just made this even easier. I had plenty of ammo, which was a good thing.

"Sure. I'll give up when I'm killing your bandits left and right," I said nonchalantly, as I kept blasting each bandits as they came out of the houses.

"What is WRONG with you boys? Just kill that skaglick, so's we can get our reward!" Flynt exclaimed.

"Kind of hard to do that when I drop them dead a second after they leave the building they were in," I said, as I started blasting bandit after bandit only using one Jakobs bullet each. I was humming to myself as did this. If this was Vault Hunting, it's a pretty easy profession so far. And way too easy.

"Oh, no. BULLYMONGS!" Claptrap yelled, as Bullymongs began exiting the ice formations.

"Now things get interesting," I said, swapping to my shotgun.

I started running to toward one of the areas where they dropped and instantly unloaded the 2 shots in my clip onto the Bullymong. The first shot hit its bottom jaw, half of the shot going in the mouth. The second shot hit it directly on the top right of it's head, taking an eye and part of his head. It was still alive, but obviously in pain. I gave it no sympathy. I know it would attempt to rip me apart if the tables were turned. But I finished him with a quick stab in the part of the head that was missing.

Meanwhile, the bullymongs and bandits were having fun killing each other. I climbed on top of the roof and went down to 1 knee, watching the fight.

_"I'm just going to watching these motherfuckers fight it out," _I thought. _"That's it. Where the popcorn at?" _I smiled at the thought of popcorn right now. Regardless, I just watched everyone tear each other apart.

Eventually, there was only 1 Bullymong left, and it was fairly injured. I just fired a quick Jakobs to the head and it toppled. Looks like they were all out of bandits and Bullymongs.

"Seriously? You ought to try harder than that," I said, my tone amused.

"DAMMIT! This ain't over grinder," Flynt said.

"For now it is," I said, scavenging the bodies for money, ammo, or if I'm extremely lucky, loot. Out of all of the bodies, I was able to get 73 dollars, 84 pistol bullets, and no loot. At least loot worth getting.

"Hey Hammerlock! Since my minion just saved your town, you want to do your bestie Claptrap a favor and repair my eye?" Claptrap asked.

"My name is Robert. Get it right," I growled through gritted teeth. "I meant what I said about feeding you to the Bullymongs."

"Right. Robert," Claptrap said.

"Yes, I suppose I am in you debt now, aren't I? Come to my shack and I shall restore Claptrap's sight. First I shall shut off the electrical fence for you," Hammerlock said.

I started rushing forward towards the fence, but Hammerlock stopped me.

"Please stay back Vault Hunter. Let Claptrap go first," Hammerlock said.

"Why?" I asked.

"You'll see," Hammerlock said simply.

"I knew Hammerlock would come around eventually. Me and him are like 2 peas in a pod! 2 bullets in a mag! 2 cannibal-" He was cut off from the rest of his sentence cause he walked directly into an electric gate.

"Why'd you do that?" I asked. My tone wasn't angry. Just curious.

"Apologies, but when Claptrap speaks I feel my brain cells committing suicide one by one. I shall be out directly," Hammerlock said, while I fought to keep down a laugh that threatened to burst through my mouth.

Then I could see a man walk out of the house beyond the electric gate and he stood at attention before saluting me.

"A pleasure to meet you Vault Hunter. I am Sir Hammerlock. At your service," he said.

"Please, call me Robert. People who call me a Vault Hunter are my enemies. People who call me Robert are my friends. Which are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Your friend Robert, and never your enemy. Not after this," Hammerlock said, gesturing to the many corpses around Liar's Berg.

"Smart man. Now what's your story?" I asked.

"I came out here to research the Bullymongs for my almanac, but Captain Flynt's man trapped me on this glacier. Many thanks for disposing of them by the way. To survive a direct run with Handsome Jack AND defeat Captain Flynt's bandits? Unheard of. I'm headed to Sanctuary myself. From what I hear, the Crimson Raiders could use a hero like you," Hammerlock explained. "Now if you could hand me the robot's eye please."

"Not quite yet. There are still questions that I want answered, and I don't want Claptrap awake when I ask them, simply because he annoys me," I said.

"Yes, he does have that demeanor about him. Ask away, my friend!" Hammerlock exclaimed.

"Actually, it's really just one question. You said you're writing an almanac about the Bullymongs?" I asked.

"Oh no. Rather it's a almanac on all of the creatures of Pandora. Bullymongs are just one of those creatures that are on the list. The almanac serves the purpose of how to kill them easier. Skags hate it when you shoot them in the mouth for example," Hammerlock said.

"I don't think anyone likes being shot in the mouth," I said dryly. I handed him Claptrap's eye, ready for it to be reinstalled into him now.

Hammerlock strode over to Claptrap and began to fix the thing back into him.

"Now I just need to connect this to this and..." he said, screwing the eye back in to him before pounding it in place. "That should do it!"

"HA HA! I AM ALIVE!" Claptrap yelled.

"Oh dear, he's talking again," Hammerlock said, face-palming.

"Min- Eh, Robert. Now I've got my eyesight back! And you look a lot more different than I remember! Time to join up with the Crimson Raiders in Sanctuary! This place full of nothing but murderers or jerkbags! Like that Hammerlock dude!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"I'm standing right here dude," Hammerlock said, sounding miffed. But then he turned to me on a more important note.

"Now that Liar's Berg is clear, I might as well turn on the main power. This place is full of things that may be of use to a go getting slayer of men like yourself," Hammerlock said.

"Roll out!" Claptrap said, wheeling forward in strides while Hammerlock jogged at a slow pace. I followed in a walk that let me keep up with them.

"I see our fearless leader Jack is looking for you. Charming fellow, isn't he?" Hammerlock said.

"He's an asshole," I said.

"Oh, I quite agree. Spouts drivel about bringing peace to the frontier, then shoots unarmed men, women, and children like it was going out of style! Bah, I'm spout exposition, aren't I? Apologies!" Hammerlock said.

"Oh, it's perfectly alright with me," I said.

Hammerlock hit a button, and sudden in it's own way, Liar's Berg came to life. There were ammo machines, health, and I remember seeing a gun one where Hammerlock was held up.

"Ah, there you are," Hammerlock said.

* * *

A/N: I'm cutting it here because I'm not sure if I want to write in the side missions for Liar's Berg. I don't know about you, but I would feel better with more money and gear in my pocket before venturing out. If no one tells me otherwise, I'm cutting these side missions out. Let me know and I will see you when I see you.


	5. Chapter 5- Makin Boom go Boom

A/N: Well, I certainly wasn't expecting a sudden rise in reviews, but it is appreciated none the less. BTW: Since I only got one review to skip the Liar's Berg side missions, that's exactly what I'm doing.

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"Well, you certainly had a lot of work needed for this place," I quipped once I confirmed the death of the midget riding a Bullymong, Along with the Bullymong and bandits that camped there. But some of them were former Crimson Lancemen soldiers. That unlocked a fury that made things all the more worse for them.

"What can I say chum? Captain Flynt and his bandits gave this place quite a good thrashing. If you had seen it before the bandits, it was... well, it was a lot better than this," Hammerlock said, gesturing around the town.

I nodded and rested my new Jakobs sniper on my shoulder. I traded the Bullymong hair with Hammerlock instead of Claptrap, and did not regret it in the slightest. A sniper was one of my favorite guns to use. And I got a Torgue shotgun from a port-a-potty with loot in it. I'm fairly certain this would've been better than the shotgun Claptrap would've gave me. But I bullied him into giving me the shotgun anyway, and I was correct in that assumption. I was also fairly more richer thanks to Hammerlock. Now I had about 250 dollars in cash and was fairly geared up. Now to get to Sanctuary. I turned to Claptrap.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"Of course. Flynt and I had a gentleman's agreement in the past. I give him the loot from the bodies Jack tosses in the glacier. He promises not to torture me for hours at a time. But then he does it anyway! But that ends today! We're going to take him out, steal my ship back, and sail to Sanctuary!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"You mean I take him out while you run around aimlessly, scared out of your mind," I said dryly.

"Yeah! Let's go this way!" Claptrap said.

I shook my head before following Claptrap toward Captain Flynt's area.

"Prepare yourself Flynt, because you don't stand a chance," I said.

"Big words from one man. Here's what's going to happen Vault Hunter. My first mate Boom Bewm's going to kill ya, Jack's gonna pay us, and I'm going to play hopscotch in your chest cavity!" Flynt exclaimed.

"You still play hopscotch? How childish," I said in a disintersted voice. Claptrap led me out of the gate and toward his ship.

"Hey, ah, these prezles suck... How's your day been buddy? We haven't really talked much since I left you for dead," Jack said.

"You know, killed a few bandits, earned some cash, about to get to Sanctuary and kill your miserable ass slowly and painfully," I said idly with malicious intent.

"That's great. Hey, think you'll freeze to death out there?" Jack asked.

"Unlikely," I said with all the venom I could muster in my voice.

"Nah, probably not. The bandits will get you first. My day? It's been pretty good. Just bought a pony made of diamonds. Yeah, because I'm rich. So yeah, that's cool. Kay bye," Jack said.

Did his parents know? Did they know he was going to be an ultimate jackass? Just for the sake of the pun? God, this asshole got under my skin horribly. Maybe it's the fact that he tried to kill me and has the nerve to talk to me as if we were having a pleasant conversation. The thought infuriates me.

"PROTECT ME SQUIRE!" Claptrap exclaimed, once bandits began exiting the shacks down the hill.

I rolled my eyes and, using a sharp eye, I downed the bandits without a shield from a quick headshot from my Jakobs pistol before swiftly striding up to the bandit with a shield and impaling my blade through his throat. My knife had a property to where it could ignore shields, so that was pretty useful. He gurgled, which probably was meant to be an insult before he crumpled.

"Minion... what have you done?" Claptrap asked.

I raised an eyebrow at this phrase as he never complained about me killing bandits before.

"Killed a number of bandits?" I said, sarcastically and rhetorically.

"These were human beings with lives... and families... and... ah, I'm totally kidding. SCREW those guys!" Claptrap exclaimed.

I furrowed my brows at this, but I didn't comment. Why couldn't Claptrap be less... annoying?

_"I'm asking too much. That's like asking the sun to stop shining, only this would have a more positive effect upon the world," _I thought resignedly.

"I'm racking my brain trying to think of a name for that diamond pony I bought. I was going to call it 'piss-for-brains' in honor of you, but that just seems immature," Jack said.

"How about you name it after you? Jackass," I said angrily. "Does it sound like I give a shit about your diamond pony?" Of course he seemed to bounce of my words like bullets on a shield.

"Maybe... Butt Stallion?" Jack suggested. I face-palmed so hard at that name. How could you not react to a ridiculous name like that? "Nah, that's even worse. I'll tell you what. I'll give it some more thought."

I came up to the next area that was, of course, filled with bandits. Upon seeing them, Claptrap started running all around the place and the bandits ended up noticing him, and most importantly, me.

"There goes the element of surprise," I said, pulling out my sniper and taking cover in a container left of the entrance. Using what little space I had, I aimed at the with an explosive barrel and it obliterated him with nothing left but a pool of blood on the ground. Then I could see a psycho running up to me, with its usual of attitude of 'I don't give a shit. I want the gun in my face.'

When it got up close, I simply shot it in the face, but it surprised me when the psycho was wearing a shield. He had the axe in mid swing toward my face before I pulled the trigger again. I got a little too sure of myself and I nearly paid the price for it.

I took the psycho's axe and tossed it in a marauder's face, who was just exiting one of the doors. Honestly, having these axes to throw was just too fun. Two marauders and a psycho came out of the same door, and the psycho charged me, while the marauders had me pinned down with a little SMG fire. I could tell they were Bandit style weapons from how long they were firing at me.

Once the psycho got close, I disarmed it and sliced it right down the middle with the axe. Then, in a moment that seemed like slow motion, I ran from behind my cover and threw my axe at one marauder before swapping to my Dahl pistol and using the burst fire to quickly eliminate his shield and kill him with the 2 bullets that were left from the burst. The other marauder shot the incoming axe out of the sky, but I was expecting that considering they way he was firing, so I quickly switched to my Jakobs pistol and shot him directly in the forehead with a crunch that sounds like it tried to split his skull in half.

Once clear, Claptrap immediately strode forward and began to deactivate the gate.

"And... open!" he exclaimed once he finished typing on the keypad.

"I should probably clarify. The diamond horse that I've been telling you about?" Jack asked.

"What the fuck about it?" I asked, my tone disinterested. But I perked up as soon as I saw psycho running towards me with active grenades.

"It's not a sculpture or anything. It's a living horse that actually happens to be made of... Actually, just... you know what? I'll go get her. Butt Stallion! *whistles* Butt Stallion, say hello," Jack said.

A whinny could be heard in the background.

"Butt Stallion says hello," Jack said.

My mouth became a thin line as I decided to choose not to respond. I wanted him to know that his opinion meant as much as the bandits that were bleeding on the ground.

I hopped down, not bothering to click the elevator because the fall wasn't very long at all. Claptrap, of course, fell face first into the snow before leaping back up. But immediately stopped in his tracks.

"It's Boom Bewm! AHHHHH!" Claptrap yelled, running and flailing his arms around like usual.

Rather, Boom Bewm was not one person, but 2 midgets. Which in a way, adds up to one person, but that's besides the point. I could see one of them climbing up on the cannon while the other was staying on the ground.

"LIGHT THE FUSES, BITCHES..." the first Boom said, before striking a pose while his brother flew past him. "I'M READY TO BLOW! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" With the large number of rockets and grenades on him and by the excess use of the word 'Boom,' I didn't doubt that he wanted to blow some shit up. I.E., me.

I immediately broke into a dash to get around the cannon's line of fire. It was slow moving, which was a good thing. His brother flew into the air and was raining explosive rounds while I was running. Luckily, I had legs stronger than a Crystalisk's, so I was able to stay a step a head of the game.

I made a leap to climb his turret and successfully made it when I grabbed the edge. I grabbed the midget's head and began smashing it on the turret with as much force as I could muster. I could hear his armor creaking, which made me speed up the pace.

His brother flew above me and began to fire his Torgue shotgun from above me, but I used the midgets corpses as a shield, which decimated his armor.

With one final colossus effort, I smashed his head back onto the turret and his head exploded from the force. I grinned at the sight. Beautiful, yet horrifying. This was my art, and these bandits were my paint. Literally and figuratively.

I made a giant leap and jumped onto the second Boom while he was in mid-air. The pack couldn't take both of our weight, so we went down to the ground. Of course, this was intentional. I made a leap a split-second before we hit the ground and Boom went tumbling like a cork in the ocean while I landed on my feet gracefully.

I ran up to his fallen body and grabbed him violently by his head and dragged him over to the wooden door blocking our way. I began bashing his head on the door as violently as I could. These kills sent a message. That I'm not here to play around. If Flynt's smart, he'll give up and just let me walk out. It'll be easier on everyone that way. Though I didn't count on it.

I was amazed at the armor on this one. I smashed his head against a large blockade that was made out of petrified wood and his armor was still holding. Though I couldn't imagine his face looked good at this point.

"Enjoying this?" I mocked, removing the helmet. I don't why I didn't do this sooner. I was right. The sight was not pretty. I'm not sure how the midget's face initially looked, but I sure as hell knew it didn't look _this _bad.

All of his teeth made a pile inside of the helmet while he was choking on blood. His nose was practically caved in, obviously broken from how crooked it looked. His features were unrecognizable and his face had bruises and open wounds. He seemed to be drowning in his own blood as he tried to make words. Words that are coherent.

I sighed and just ended it with a bullet to the head. The thing about me was that I _liked _causing pain. I mean, I wasn't a masochist, and not toward anyone who doesn't deserve it, mind you, but towards people like bandits? It was _fun. _To me, it was nothing but a game.

"He sure said 'Boom' a lot. Looks like he dropped a Grenade Mod. Be sure to equip it," Claptrap said.

"What's a Grenade Mod?" I asked. There were never any of these on Hera.

"They're devices that change the way your grenades behave. You can get some that can home in on targets, or spew flame, or burst into a bazillion tiny grenades! They're badass!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"No kidding," I said, my eyes wide at his description of Grenade Mods. Right now, the one I had just made the explosion more deadly, but I was anticipating better ones.

"Ragging, fragging, locked gate! Ooh, idea! Robert, get on that cannon!" Claptrap said.

"You want me to shoot the gate?" I asked, climbing on the turret.

"Exactly. But DON'T do it until I'm out of the way, understand? If you shoot the gate now, that could cause serious damage to me! So don't do that! I'm just standing here- WHOOAAA!"

The last of my patience wore ran out as I shot the gate before he moved. But that opened the way for a number of bandits and I had no idea where the fuck Claptrap flew.

"Maybe not the best idea..."

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A/N: I liked this chapter, and it gives you an inkling of why I rated this story M. Just because I have an extreme capacity for violence, and this is a conduit of that violent energy. But I also got a little surprise for you all on the Captain Flynt fight. It might not make an inkling of sense, but I'm pretty sure you'll like it. Au revoir!


	6. Chapter 6- Killing Flynt and Eridium

A/N: Like I said, I did have a surprise for this chapter. I will say again, it's not going to make a lick of sense, but I'm pretty sure you'll like it. Hopefully. It'll throw the Captain Flynt fight into a whole another perspective. Let's move on!

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"So, um... I made have tried to stage a mutiny on Captain Flynt's ship before the flash freeze..." Claptrap said.

"Really?" I asked surprised. I didn't think Claptrap had the nerve to go against anyone with guns.

"Yeah. Which explains why his men are currently beating the crap out of me, right guys?" Claptrap asked.

"SHUT UP!" a bandit yelled.

"Okay!" Claptrap said eagerly.

"Hang on. Try not to be in pieces by the time I get there," I said.

"So, Claptrap's got a new friend, huh? I got to say, I miss the little hunk of junk. The noises he made when we set him on fire... Brings a tear to my eye," Flynt said.

For reasons I could not fathom, the statement got under my skin. The horrifying thought that I was actually starting to grow fond of Claptrap crossed my mind. Just thinking about it gives me the shivers.

As soon as the gate ahead of me was opened, out came 3 psychos running at me for a blitz attack. I took a combat stance and readied myself. I grabbed the descending hand of the first psycho and head butted him in the face before grabbing his hand with the axe and directing it to cut off his own head. I grabbed the axe and used it to block the axe of the second psycho and deflected the third axe with my blade. I pushed the second psycho back slightly before I started running circles around him. He was trying to follow me and hit me at the same time and ended up planting the own axe in his skull before crumpling.

"Silence the voices..." the psycho said before dying and his voice gurgled before silencing.

I shook my head at his stupidity and slid under the legs of the third psycho and sliced his balls in half. Insane or not, he started screaming his lungs out. Not that I could blame him.

"MY MEAT PUPPIES!" he yelled. I ended him by planting the axe in the back of his head and tilting my head at the sight of his corpse.

I continued and pulled out my Torgue shotgun as more bandits began exiting the various shacks around me.

Using the ice as a slide, I slid across the ice like I was snowboarding and flew past the gunshots and using one hand to fire the shotgun at them. Surprisingly, Torgue weapons had little recoil for all of their weaponry. I only managed to hit one of them, but at least I managed to avoid them hitting me for the most part. When I started nearing the next area, I did a jump to stop me from sliding while swapping to my Jakobs sniper and blasted the other bandit in the head. Bolt action snipers were not for me, but I had to deal with it. After he went down, 3 midgets came out of a house and started charging toward me. The sweet thing was that they were running in a straight line.

"Oh, this is perfect," I said as I lined up the shot. As they started nearing me, I pulled the trigger and the bullet went through all of their heads for a triple snipe kill with one bullet. God, it felt good.

The next area only had about 2 bandits outside. I swapped to my Jakobs revolver and aimed at the fire barrel near them. I hit it right between the railing and it instantly exploded. The force knocked them off their feet, but the fire had a date with their flesh. They started screaming and collapsed as the inevitable happened.

Then the door next to the shack exploded. Down the stairs walked a marauder, but he was considerable larger and by the look of things, he had better gear than most marauders. It always said that on Pandora, there was always stronger versions of a type of foe. Humans could fall in this category as well as some marauders end up bigger and badder than others. They were known as 'Badasses.' This was going to be interesting.

I instantly reacted and used my Jakobs pistol to blast him in the head, but his shield held. He then started firing at me with a Torgue assault rifle. Overall, I was able to avoid a few shots, but 3 shots did hit me and dropped my shield. I quickly reacted and kept firing consecutively at his head and his shield dropped on the third blast, but a nova suddenly fired out and I was hit with a painful wave of electricity. The shock made me clench my left fist and I let out a strangled yell. I quickly reacted and shot him twice in his head, but he got a few shots of on me and hit me in the shoulder and my waist.

When he dropped, I instantly used my ECHO to give me health hypos and injected myself with it to heal myself up before reloading my revolver. I love that pistol ammo was universal and would instantly morph to match the ammo of the gun you're using.

I looted his corpse of the assault rifle and nova shield. This was some decent gear that I wanted to keep. I'd rather keep my current shield on though. It had more capacity, which was more of my concern. There was a plus that it had an immunity to corrosion.

In the next area, I was severely outnumbered. Bullets were flying toward me direction from three different bandit pistols. As I ran up trying to find cover, I could that there were bandits above me, but gratefully, the angle prevented them from getting a shot on me. I pulled out the Torgue assault rifle and saw that there were 8 bullets out of 16 from the clip of the Badass Marauder.

"OW! OUCH! Robert, a little help?" Claptrap asked.

"Little busy right now," I said, taking cover behind a shack to tried to plan my attack.

Since they were stupid enough to keep firing even though they didn't have a direct shot and a limited amount of ammo, they stopped firing at me. I smirked and quickly shot each bandit in the head consecutively and their heads exploded, which was satisfying. Dumbasses.

I swapped to my Jakobs sniper before turning the corner and instantly dropping one of the bandits firing at me. I inched over until I came into view of the next one and then sniped him. The last bandit walked into view while firing without aiming at me. I dropped him because of his stupidity. Honestly, did these animals know anything about tactics?

I continued forward and saw Claptrap being wailed on by 2 psychos and a marauder. I quickly shot the marauder and one of the psychos in the head before waiting for the last psycho to approach me. Needless to say, he started charging at me as soon as he realized he was being attacked. As soon as he lifted his hand for the swing, I simply made a swift gesture with my arm and stabbed him in the throat, causing him to gurgle and crumple instantly.

As soon as the bandit fell and I walked toward Claptrap, he got out of his 'skin' and started bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Suck it, Flynt! My new friend's a bonnafide badass!" Claptrap exclaimed.

I smirked.

"And don't you forget it," I said, continuing forward. Hopefully we were getting closer to Captain Flynt. I was ready to get out of this frozen tundra and somewhere safe. And warm. The combat had kept me somewhat warm, but it could last only so long before I caught hypothermia.

"PROTECT ME SQUIRE!" Claptrap exclaimed, taking off running. I shook my head. Oh Lord, again?

Rolling my eyes at his repetitive use of the statement, I pulled out my sniper and quickly sniped a bandit coming out of a door. There was another one exiting a shack not far from him and I quickly directed my sights toward him and sniped him. On a higher ground, there were 4 bandits shooting at me. I sniped one of them before having to go back into cover to change the mag.

Once I reloaded, I saw that they were taking cover this time around. And I could see through the cracks while aiming down the sight of my barrel that they were trying to flank me from both sides. So they do actually know tactics somewhat.

But it didn't help them much as I tossed grenades at both of them. They didn't seem to see them as they were still trying to move. But they blood that flew everywhere confirmed the kills.

Claptrap stopped running around and the both of us continued on but he stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Grr! Stairs?! I can't climb stairs! Lets find another way up!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"Or I can just do this," I said, grabbing Claptrap with one hand while running up the stairs before setting him down. "That was more efficient."

"So much more so than that crane over there," Claptrap said, gesturing back downstairs.

"Stay here. It's likely there are bandits ahead, and I don't need you running all over the place," I said, covering the corner before taking a glance. I couldn't see anyone from this point, so I decided to get closer. As soon as I did, a bandit walked out of the house that I was just looking at.

"It's that Vault Hunter who killed everyone in Liar's Berg! Kill him!" the bandit yelled.

"Sure. Challenge the guy who's taken out practically half of your gang," I said sarcastically, shooting the bandit in the face.

Another bandit walked out of the same house that bandit walked of and I shot him from the side. I swapped to my sniper and sniped the bandit on a lower platform from me. There was another bandit on a platform across form him and I sniped him as well. To bad my sniper ammo was almost gone.

A loud crash from my left startled me and I saw that a large 'door' I guess you could say fell down and I was faced with 2 bandits. But not before 4 more bandits exited from shipping crates. My shield wouldn't last long under all of that fire, so I took cover behind the area those bandits were exiting from and pulled out my Torgue assault rifle. I took quick aim and fired 2 bullets per bandit.

I missed a few times because I'm used to having faster bullet speeds, but a quick adjustment and a reload later, and I was able to take out 5 of them before having to reload. I swapped back to my Jakobs pistol and rid my self of the 3 last bullets by finishing of the remaining 3 bandits. I reloaded my gun and was about to continue when I nearly forgot about Claptrap.

"It's clear. You can come out now," I called out to him.

When we ascended up the platform, I looted various containers for ammo. Then I came up on an ammo vendor and refilled the last of my ammo, which was wasn't much and the ammo wasn't very expensive.

Claptrap opened the door that led to the next area and he fell down like he seems to always do. I jumped down without a care and walked forward, ready for to fight this so called Captain.

"Come on out Flynt! Your Claptrap unit has returned!" Claptrap yelled.

In the distance, I could see a rather large man wearing something akin to a Viking helmet. His eyes were glowing red behind them and he was carrying a bandit pistol along with a hammer of some sort.

"It's our new torture dolls, boys! LET'S TURN UP THE HEAT!" Flynt yelled, before jumping down. I smirked. This was going to be a sweet kill. I could already tell.

"OH, SPHINCTERS! I'm so sorry Captain Flynt, sir! Please, don't burn me again!" Claptrap yelled, running all around the place again.

I aimed my sniper at the bandits that were coming out of pipes along the sides of the ship rather than focusing on Flynt. Luckily, Flynt's aim was so bad, he couldn't hit me from this distance. He had a lot of bandits around this ship. But Flynt seemed satisfied trying to hit me from his vantage point rather than fight me himself.

Instead of dealing with Flynt, I think it's better to deal with all of his goons first. I went through all of my sniper ammo and a little bit of pistol ammo before all of the bandits were dead.

After they were all dead, he seemed to acknowledge that he would have to fight me himself, so he jumped down. I couldn't snipe him since I was out of sniper ammo, so I knew I was going to have to get closer to this son of a bitch.

I ran at top speed to get to him, swapping out my pistol with my Torgue shotgun. Something told me it was going to take some serious firepower to take this bastard down. Bandits guns never did have good accuracy, and Flynt was obviously not the best shot in the world. For some unknown reason, it seemed as if he heard me and activated the furnaces.

Seeing one furnace flare up, I immediately dove to the side and stayed in the middle to avoid the flames. But that's not what Flynt was trying to do.

The furnaces had inflamed his armor and he was dangerous to go near and he was charging toward me with that damned hammer of his. I didn't think I was going to be able to do much to him until those flames went out. So I settled on evasion until the flames went out.

I ducked under his arm and past him to dodge his descending hammer blow. I put my shotgun in my ECHO so my movement speed was unaltered. And I was a nightmare to catch when I had nothing holding me back. I was wearing a tattered jacket, T-shirt, and jeans with nothing but an ECHO that weighs 2 pounds on my waist. Nothing but lightweight items on me.

By the way Flynt was slowing down as I kept dodging him, he was obviously getting tired quickly.

"Stand... still... GRINDER!" Flynt yelled as he kept unsuccessfully trying to hit me.

"Why would I do that?" I said with a cocky smirk.

The moment those flames died out, I pulled out my Torgue shotgun AND my Torgue assault Rifle. I could barely keep the assault rifle aloft due to it's length, but I managed and went crazy with these guns.

_"Huh, no wonder most Truxicans gunzerk," _I thought as I was lowering him down to his knees. He seemed too tired and too weak to even attempt to try to attack me as I reloaded both guns. I decide to only keep the shotgun in my hand because I figured it wouldn't take much to kill him at this point.

"Any last words?" I said smirking.

Flynt looked at me and even if I couldn't see his mouth, I could tell he was smirking. This caught me off guard.

"Yeah. Die," Flynt said, removing his helmet.

Instead of there being an actual head behind it, there was nothing but a skull connected by a thread of veins or whatever was holding his skull up. It was easily a disgusting sight, and it didn't get any better.

Upon removing the helmet, I could see that any evidence of me hurting or tiring him out was gone and he was angry No, _enraged _is a more accurate adjective. He ditched the gun and the hammer and he began running at me like a psycho. Only this time, I ran the other direction. I was doing my damndest to put some distance between me and Flynt.

When I thought it was far enough, I used my shotgun to try and whittle him down. None of my shots hit his head because I was not aiming. I was just focused on trying to damage him. He walked through those shots like he didn't even feel them.

I tried to run past him, but one of his punches grazed me. It dropped my shield instantly and knocked me toward the edge of the ship. I barely managed to hang on. Even then, I could see a giant red fist heading toward me.

Regaining focus and reacting quickly, I swung my legs from side to side until I was able to use that momentum to cartwheel straight into the air and grab his fist in midair before climbing onto his back. He did not fall of the ship, but rather he was standing on the ledge. Good. This saves me some trouble.

I grabbed a grenade and unpinned it before stuffing it down the softened pink skin around its 'head.' I then leaped off his back and drop kicked him in the back to knock him off of the ledge. I jumped back to my feet in an instant before I heard the explosion. I looked down to see that Flynt was missing half of his corpse when he hit the ground.

"I was right. That was a sweet kill," I said aloud.

"BOOYAH! You're the most fearsome warrior this glacier has ever seen, pal!" Claptrap said.

"Thanks! Good God, what the fuck was that?" I asked.

"That was a goliath. They look like regular people, but as soon as you take off their helmets, they turn into what Flynt just turned into. If you can, avoid hitting them in the head at all. But since you took care of Flynt, you shouldn't have a problem with the others since Flynt's the most powerful one on Pandora. It's how he keeps the Rippers in line. No one wants to be on the end of a goliath's backlash," Claptrap explained.

"Yeah, no kidding," I said, rubbing my sore chest from when Flynt punched it. I swear it feels like I was hit with a Poly-Kryten fist. Possibly harder.

"Alright, now we just got to get to my ship," Claptrap said, opening the door to the next area. Then I could see a big chest. This immediately caught my attention.

I opened it to find 4 pistols lying in there along with ammo. The corporations were Vladof, Jakobs, Bandit, and (a sight that angered me) Hyperion. Regardless how I felt about the corporation, loot was loot, and I'd be a fool not to take it. So I grabbed all of the ammo I need and started looting the place. Until I came across a sight that amazed me.

There wasn't anything I was used to seeing in this locker. Usually it's ammo, hypos, money, or the occasional gun, but not this time.

Rather, there was a beautiful purple substance inside. The more I looked at it, the more it entranced me. No wonder there was a note that said: 'Don't touch, or die! Captain Flynt.'

But looking at the substance also awakened some kind of hunger within me. One I could not understand. Also, a feeling of home. Like this is where I belonged. This is what I know. This is what I love.

As soon as I touched it, I can see that the substance dissolved into a purple mist before it settled on my hand. My hand was glowing purple, and soon the rest of my body was too.

"The he-" That was as far as I got before I passed out.

* * *

"Well, things have kicked off. You can find Eridium anywhere on Pandora, so the fact that Flynt had some in his storage is not impossible. Also, did you like what I did with the Captain Flynt fight? Like I said, it may have not made a lick of sense, but I liked it. Him being a goliath is somewhat possible. At least, I tried to make it possible. Flynt is a bigger, stronger than most goliaths at the start. Like, Super Badass level at the start. It doesn't help that he knows when to control himself. It allows him to easily run the Rippers without killing any of them. I think an enraged goliath is enough to keep bandits in line, no? Anyway, hope you liked it.


	7. Chapter 7- Getting to Sanctuary

A/N: Time for the next chapter people! In this one, I plan on getting to Sanctuary, so this'll be a fairly long chapter. Let's go!

* * *

Burning and freezing. Those were the sensations I could easily recognize when I woke up. I could feel it searing into my arms, my chest, and all of the way down my body. I opened my eyes and my breathing came out ragged and heavy. I was easily in pain, but I knew if I was in danger, I was going to have to put that aside if I wanted to get out alive.

_"No, you killed every bandit in the Southern Shelf, remember?" _I thought.

So I decided to relax where I was and endure the pain that was traveling through my body. It was reaching a point where I had to had to keep biting down on my tongue to prevent myself from screaming.

If I opened my eyes, I would've notice the faint glow emitting from my body. Specifically, on my arms and chest. But I didn't. At least for right now.

The pain was too immense for me to even think about doing so. I started writhing, seemingly going through a type of internal torture that was naked to the human eye. Or maybe it wasn't.

I decided to take a look to see if anyone was around me. I looked up to see the sky passing by. We were obviously in motion, and by the looks of things, we were still in the tundra, but I think Claptrap was taking us toward Sanctuary. Good. Though I have a feeling it wasn't going to be as easy as getting there.

But then I registered the glow on my body, and that's when the pain started to make sense.

Slowly and deliberately, as if someone was tracing my skin with an invisible pen with glowing ink, strange tattoos were drawing themselves across my chest and arms. Both of which were exposed to the cold air considering I didn't have a shirt on, so that explains the cold I felt. And the burning was from I guess the _tattoos burning into my skin! _

Memory from myths registered into my mind and with a nasty thought that caused me to freeze, I remembered the most likely possibility. Sirens. I quoted what I remembered from the book.

"Sirens are female beings with mystical powers," I recited aloud. "They are born with their tattoos, and their powers develop as they begin reaching the their late teen years, nearing early adulthood. There are no official records of Sirens ever existing, but there have been confirmations of there being a number of Sirens on Pandora. Caution is advised when going near these deadly creatures."

I frowned. If their transformations are anywhere like mine, then they'll be no more human than me. But something tells me my transformation was not common. As uncommon as being a Siren is, I somehow managed to make it even more uncommon. Just... what the hell?! Why the hell was this happening to me? I didn't know the first thing about controlling these powers.

"Oh god," I said with a horrible realization. I didn't know how to control my powers. I didn't even know what they were! And Sirens were hunted among the community. There would be a huge reward for my head. I would have more than Pandora to deal with. I would have people from galaxies all over trying to kill me. How would I deal with that? Then the obvious answer came.

"I can't let anyone know," I said, nodding.

No one knew yet luckily. The only one who possibly knew was Claptrap, and hopefully he was too stupid to figure it out.

I would just never have to roll up my sleeves and make sure not to try to expose anything... unnatural. And it was unlikely I would find another Siren to train me. The only Siren that I knew in existence was a 'evil witch' known as Lilith. Hyperion managed to kill her though, so I had no options as far as training. I would just have to hope I could self teach myself.

But there's also the fact that Pandora was notorious for Siren sightings. Hopefully I would be able to find one to train me so I would be able to control myself and not blow damn near everything around me up.

Then I could hear my ECHO going off. It wasn't a call. That has a different type of ring. This was more than likely a planet wide ECHO. My faces turned into a confused one before becoming horrified.

The bounty that was on my head just went up. Gradually. Like, to a trillion gradually. And this wasn't planet wide. It was galaxy wide. Siren or not, I would be hunted until I die, or I kill Jack. That way the bounty would be invalid.

I sighed heavily. I go to Pandora for one day, and I nearly get killed, find out I'm a Siren, a male at that fact, and get a 100 billion dollar bounty on my head. Damn. Be careful what you wish for when you say you want a challenge.

I was used to the burning already, so I was able to get to my feet and take a good look at the view that was passing by. Rather it was nothing but glaciers and water, but it did instill a type of calm. A stillness to my racing mind and I when I was able to think about it more logically, I didn't have anything to worry about as long as I was able to keep stay calm and think rationally.

I scratched my itchy neck and looked in the distance as I began to see land coming up.

"We're nearing Sanctuary, buddy. You go on ahead. Tell the locals what we'll need for my 'welcome back party.'" On that note, I immediately left the ship. I was in pain and was freezing with no shirt on, but that was better than listen to Claptrap go on endlessly.

I drew my Torgue shotgun and ran up when I could see a car pass by. It fired rockets behind it and destroyed the bridge. I was probably going to have to make a hell of a jump to get over.

"Sanctuary's off limits. You Bloodshots can stay in your hole," someone said over the ECHO. By the fact I was able to pick it up, he was not far.

"I SEEEEE YOU!" a Bloodshot yelled. I could hear the other man sigh heavily on the other end.

"Awesome," he said depressingly. "Why don't you boys run on back to your camp?"

"Oh, good idea. I think we'll just turn around and head back to our... DIE!" another Bloodshot said before deafening gunfire was all that could be heard.

"Are they headed for Sanctuary, Angel?" I asked, just now remembering the omnipresent woman.

"They've led attacks for on the city for quite a while, but can never get past the city gate. Speaking of which, you'll need a vehicle to there city gate. Get to the Catch-a-Ride," Angel explained.

"Can do," I said. It didn't sound like she knew what happened, which was somewhat of a relief. I was trusting her right now and I felt like I could trust her, but I didn't want _anyone _to know this little tidbit.

But first I had to worry about the numerous Bullymongs. I ran up shot each Bullymong in the face and that was all it took, but 3 more came out after I killed the larger ones in front of me. But they were Monglets, so this would be easier on me.

I swapped to my Jakobs pistol before grabbing the arm of one and smashed its tiny head into the ice wall before tossing turning without moving my feet and shot both Monglets in the head. I continued and more Bullymongs were coming out of the ice walls.

Losing patience, I jumped on the back of one of the larger Bullymongs and stuffed a grenade in its mouth. I stood there for a minute before jumping and the explosion actually gave me some more height and boosted me close to the Catch-a-Ride.

"This machine will digistruct a vehicle for you. Give it a try," Angel told me.

I shrugged and put a hand on the screen, but I got a big red hand in return.

"Whoa! Unauthorized user all in my grill! You trying to hack my Catch-a-Ride? Uncool, bro. Uncool," a voice said from the machine.

"Well, that went well," I said dryly.

"Dammit. Sorry. Uh, darn it," Angel said.

"I don't really care whether you curse or not," I said simply.

"It's just a habit to apologize. Anyway, a man named Scooter controls these Catch-a-Rides. Now he may be short a chromosomes, but he's a savant when it comes to vehicles. He's locked this station to prevent the bandits from using it, but I'm reading an inactive Hyperion interface adapter in the nearby bandit camp. If you can attach it to the Catch-a-Ride, I can hack the machine and get you a car," Angel explained.

"Seems pretty straight forward," I said, turning off my ECHO in case the bandits try to announce my... body work to the whole world. Sure enough as soon as I sniped 3 bandits from my location...

"Whoa! He's one of those Siren people! We're getting paid tonight boys!" a nomad yelled.

"Does that look like a chick to you? It's just one hell of a tattoo job. Either way, kill him!" another nomad yelled. I sighed in relief. At least they didn't believe I was a Siren.

I swapped to my Jakobs pistol and started sharpshooting heads like there was no tomorrow. My movement was very limited considering the tattoos were still trying to burn themselves into my flesh. So I had to stay in cover at least until my shield recharged when it was whittling down.

As soon as everyone was dead, I took a leather jacket and shirt off a marauder and put it on to cover my tattoos. I also grabbed the gloves off a bandit and put it over my hands so I wouldn't absorb any Eridium unless I wanted to. Particularly, when there are no witnesses. I strode over to the broken loader and took the adapter that Angel was talking about.

"Just attach the adaptive interface to the machine, and I'll get you a free car," Angel said.

I strode over to the Catch-a-Ride and attached the adapter on the side of the machine. While Angel was busy hacking it, I was over at the machine filling up on hypos and ammo.

"Authorized user accepted. Enjoy the ride, and there's a Pimento taco. A Pimentaco- in the glove box," the voice said as I was finishing up.

"Hell, I'll take anything right now," I said, realizing how hungry I was.

"Cool. Try requesting another car," Angel said.

I placed my palm on the screen and a digital screen popped up showing the Light Runners and their possible guns and paint jobs. It took me forever to decide on a paint job, but I decided to got with a Light Runner with a machine gun turret and the Hypnosis paint job(I'm only missing 10 of these mofos).

"Thanks for using Scooter's Catch-a-Ride beyotch!" the voice exclaimed.

I chuckled to myself. They guy was unnecessarily excessive. Maybe that's why he's so funny.

"Real charmer, that one. You should now be able to summon a car from any Catch-a-Ride machine. Now use one to jump that gap," Angel said.

I grabbed the Pimento taco in the glove box as promised and started devouring the food. i wasn't very fond of Pimentos, but I wasn't going to be picky. (Note: A pimento is a red, sweet pepper. So you can guess that with lettuce and a bunch of other stuff wouldn't make the most delicious combination) At least it was fresh.

After I finished eating, I used the Catch-a-Ride to jump the gap quite easily.

"Great! Now head to Sanctuary and find Roland. He'll want to meet the Vault Hunter who stared down Handsome Jack and lived," Angel said excitedly.

I sped through the cave, ignoring the Bullymongs that were jumping from the ice wall at the sight of my speeding car.

"Sometimes I envy you bandits. You're so... unburdened with things like intelligence, culture, morality, honor, ambition, good looks, I could go on, but I won't. But I could."

"That suggests you know me well enough to know I don't have any of these qualities. You are horribly wrong," I said, leaning back in the car in relaxation.

"All of you bandits are the same," Jack said. I shook my head at his short mind.

"Last time I checked, I'm not a robber or an outlaw. I'm a former mercenary turned Vault Hunter," I explained calmly. "These words have specific meanings to them, you know."

He seemed to have no comment to that, which I was satisfied with. Finally, I shut him up for a bit.

As I was nearing the gate, I could see a bandit trying to get in. So I turned up the turbo on my Runner...

"Let us in-" That was as far as he got before he was turned to mush by my vehicle and the gate.

"Look out next time," I said simply. I noticed the bandits in the camp next to Sanctuary, so I hopped in the turret in the back before unloading on each of the bandits. Under the power of the turret, they did not last long.

I then hopped out of the turret and hit the intercom. A digital image of a soldier was on the screen. It looked somewhat familiar...

"Uh, the bandits are dead out here. Could I get in and talk to Roland?" I asked directly.

"The bandits are dead? Who are you?" the man asked.

"I'm Robert Morgan. I'm the only surviving Vault Hunter from that train explosion," I said.

"You're a Vault Hunter?! Just a sec. Roland wanted to talk to you. Lemme ECHO him!" the man exclaimed.

"I'll wait," I said, turning from the digital communicator and pacing around the Runner I had.

I noticed that if it doesn't get shot for a while, the vehicle repairs itself. That'll come in handy.

Then I got contacted by who I could assume was the leader of the Crimson Raiders. Finally. Sanctuary (the city and the traditional definition) was in reach.

"Ah, so you're the one I've been hearing this radio chatter about," Roland said.

"Probably because of the bounty, right?" I asked.

"Unfortunately. You must have not been a fan of Jack's. The bounty he set on you is high. Even for Jack," Roland said.

"I survived and got out of that Tundra alive. That hasn't happened before, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't like it. Anyway, can you open the gate?" I asked.

"Right. We'll catch up when I get to Sanctuary, but right now? I need your help," Roland said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"My men tell me Corporal Reiss hasn't returned with the city power core we need to keep the city's shields running. Bring Reiss back to Sanctuary, and you'll have earned your place in the Raiders," Roland explained.

"Consider it done," I said, getting back in my Runner. I drove off for a bit, tracking an ECHO signature. "Angel. I've made contact with Roland."

"How did you know my name?" Angel asked, for the first time sounding surprised. I smiled. So I did get her name right.

"Just a guess. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know," I said.

"Roland's contacted you? Good. Listen to what he says. He can help us defeat Jack," Angel said, once she got past what seemed like shock on her end.

The ECHO signal I was tracking led to one that was lying on the ground. By the looks of things, this thing had barely survived being blown up.

I got out of my vehicle and quickly scooped it up before getting back in and driving away. I did not trust my aim now. My vision was starting to go blurry and the world was tilting. I'm guessing it was a side effect from tattoos that are about halfway down my legs. They were moving extremely slow, but at least it's almost finished. I drove away, nearly crashing into an electric cactus in the process, but I was able to move a safe distance away from the Bullymongs before playing the ECHO.

"Got the power core from the Bloodshots... blew the bridge... I'm hit... gonna lose them in the Marrowfields... GAH!" Reiss said on the other line. That did not sound good.

"The Corporal's in trouble," I told Roland weakly. I felt weaker and weaker as the these tattoos were finishing up.

"Reiss is in trouble? Dammit, we're spread thin enough as it is. Find him soldier," Roland said.

"I'm not a soldier. I'm a Vault Hunter," I corrected him, before using my ECHO to find the Marrowfields.

I reached a location where it was almost all the way blocked by a giant bone structure, but I was able to slip in between.

As I felt the tattoos completing themselves, I got even more dizzy. To the point where I fell to the ground on one knee. I was breathing heavy and my brain felt like it was trying to break through my skull. I let out a small, agonized cry before my body went rigid and I started shaking.

"God damn Bloodshots, there's too many of them. If anyone can hear me, I need HELP!" Reiss yelled.

_"You're not the only one man,"_ I thought, struggling to get to my feet.

"You're skagbait, grinder!" a Bloodshot yelled.

Only the realization of what was at risk here cause me to get to my feet and hold my pistol in my hand and concentrate. Granted, the wind was able to influence where I leaned, but at least I was moving.

Bullymongs started coming toward me and before I could fire my gun, I went rigid again. Only this time I staying in on my feet. When suddenly, the entire area was hit with a beautiful, yet powerful and terrifying fire nova. Every Bullymong in the area was caught on fire and ice formations around me began to melt.

When I looked at my body, I was glowing with a bright, white hot energy. My tattoos were glowing. Even through the fabric of my clothes and I felt high off energy. I had never felt so elated. It was pure ecstasy as my body coursed with some unknown power in my veins. To put in a simplest terms, I felt like a god.

I ran forward even faster than before while feeling more agile. I came up to 3 psychos and smirked. This was going to be fun. I ran up and grabbed one psycho's head before tossing him off of the edge of the cliff with little effort.

When the other 2 psychos charged at me, I grabbed their heads, and to my surprise and delight, their faces burned as soon as they made contact. It was easily one of the most badass things I have ever seen.

Then I looked at the person they were beating up and I injected a few hypos into him. He looked considerably better shape and stood up.

"You all right?" I asked.

"Thanks to you. Well, a Vault Hunter, huh? Didn't think I rated that much of a rescue. One of those psychos ran off with the power core. Without it, Sanctuary will be defenseless," Reiss explained.

"Then lets go get the core back," I said eagerly.

"Gladly. And... thanks. I owe you my life Vault Hunter," Reiss said, standing at attention and saluting me. I smiled.

"At ease. It was no problem Corporal. Plus it was fun to kill a few psychos along the way," I said.

"Glad we think within the same mindset. I need to contact Roland. We'll make it a conference call if you'd like," Reiss said, activating his ECHO that I handed to him. "Commander Roland, come in."

"Glad to see you're still in one piece Corporal," I heard Roland say.

"If it wasn't for your Vault Hunter here, I wouldn't be. He saved my life with those hypos, because I was bleeding out fast when he found me," Reiss explained.

"Good work Vault Hunter," Roland said.

"Call me Robert. The both of you. I'd prefer not to be labeled as 'just a Vault Hunter,'" I said with finger quotes.

"Understandable. Now lets go steal this core back," Reiss said.

I smirked.

"My pleasure," I said, walking forward.

He drew a Maliwan SMG from his ECHO in the shock element and my eyes widened. Looked very much rare too.

"Wow. Corporal's privilege?" I said with a smirk.

"Owned it in the Atlas corp," Reiss said, which wiped the smile off my face in an instant.

"You worked for the Atlas corporation?" I asked, my voice shaking with barely restrained anger.

"Yeah. Why?" Reiss asked confused at my change of emotions.

"Atlas made a raid on my home and nearly killed me. You better be glad we're on good terms Corporal. Otherwise I'd shoot you on sight," I said, walking toward the bandit camp.

_"How did I not see that this guy was obviously a Lanceman?" I thought furiously._

I know it was unfair to associate this man with the rest of Atlas, but there was a bitterness I had for the company since that day. Yet in 1 day, Hyperion managed to beat that bitterness and turn it into an anger more intense than that nova I released a few moments ago.

I took up a position a considerable distance from the camp with my Jakobs sniper.

"Lead a small assault and attack the bandits. I'll keep you covered. Even though I have a reluctance to work with a former Crimson Lanceman," I said, crouching down and aiming down the sights.

He nodded and went down the hill, firing at a group of bandits on the far left. I sniped the psycho running at him directly in the head.

Reiss lowered the shield on a nomad and put a few shock rounds in his stomach, but he still stood. I finished the marauder behind him who was trying to get a few rounds from his SMG into him. Reiss then strode up the nomad and snapped his neck in a quick move.

"The psycho that I sniped dropped the core. Grab it," I said, sniping all of the other bandits on the higher level. Figured I might as well wrap things up here while I'm at it. They kept coming out in plain sight, which made this even easier.

"Got it," Reiss told me. He walked up to the psycho and grabbed the core before putting it back in his ECHO. Though he continued to finish off the remaining bandits. Couldn't blame him there.

"Roland. We got the core," I said, continuing to snipe more bandits.

"Good. Jack won't destroy Sanctuary today at least. Get back to the city. Welcome to the Crimson Rai-" Roland said before a loud crash cut him off.

"Roland? What happened?" I asked quickly.

"Ah, dammit. I'm being attacked. I'll see you-" the transmission was cut off by a loud screech of static.

"Fuckin' A," I said, lowering my sights. "Reiss! I think Roland's in trouble. We need to get back to the city quickly."

"Can do. Let's go," Reiss said, running to catch back up to me.

We hopped in the Runner that I still had parked outside of the Marrowfields and drove quickly to Sanctuary.

"This is a message to Sanctuary. 'The last stronghold of the resistance,'" Jack said in a mocking voice. "Pandora as you knew it. The chaos, the bandits- That time has passed. If you let it, this could be an era or order, of peace! Just turn yourselves in and I promise your deaths will be quick."

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, like they're going to take that deal.

"Did you like my speech? I was lying about the last part by the way. I'm going to spend a long time torturing you bandit scum to death. And I'll enjoy it even more because... I-I shouldn't say anything. I've got a little secret that... You know what? You don't need to hear it. It'll probably just confuse you. Ciao!" Jack said.

I ignored his statement. His statements really mattered nothing at this point. Unless it involves him sending soldier or loaders down to kill me.

Anyway, when we got to the gate, we got contacted by the Raider I talked to when I first got here.

"Roland, is that you? Oh, it's the Vault Hunter and Reiss. Get in quick! Roland's communicator went dead! We need your help!" he said in a panic.

Me and Reiss looked at each other at the same time. This was bad.

* * *

A/N: I'm going to cut it here! I hope people are enjoying this story. I'm not going to be updating on spring break. Possibly. I might if I can get my hands on a laptop. Who knows?


	8. Chapter 8- Broken Family Ties

A/N: It's time to settle into Sanctuary.

* * *

"Good to see you Reiss," the Crimson Raider at the gate said.

"You as well Lieutenant Davis. If it wasn't for Robert here, I'd be dead," Reiss said.

"Happy to help," I said, somewhat stiffly.

"Stressed?" Davis asked.

"Somewhat," I repeated just as stiffly.

"Remember the Hera incident?" Reiss asked.

"Oh," Davis said, taking a quick glance at me. "Yeah, he looks like he's restraining himself from mutilating me."

"Believe me, I am. But I'm not going to. And that's all you need to sure of. What's next? Do we find Roland?" I asked.

"That's exactly what we plan on doing. But first things first. Plug that power core into the shield generator," Davis said.

I removed the current power core from the generator and replaced it with the one I took off the dead psycho. The surrounding transparent shield that I just now noticed came back stronger.

"Now here's your payment," Davis said, holding out a Vladof assault rifle and a few hundred bucks.

I accepted the rifle, but refused the money.

"Think of it as payment for letting me stay here," I said. I didn't like these guys, but again, I actually had morals.

"But this city wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you. And neither would Reiss. So I feel like I have to pay you," Davis said.

I couldn't argue with that logic, so I took the money and examined the rifle. It looked like a decent weapon to use.

"And here. This is a gift from me to you. You seemed to like it," Reiss said, holding out the Maliwan SMG from earlier.

My eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful gun. Maliwan was right. Their weapons were beautiful. And deadly.

"Oh, no. I can't take that. It's yours," I said, shaking my hand.

"I insist. You can use it a lot better than I can. Plus, it's the least I can do to repay you," Reiss said, practically forcing the thing in my hands. But the more I looked at the gun, the more I fell in love with it. My avarice won out and I kept the gun.

"Thank you," I said to Reiss.

"It's not problem Robert. Not at all. Now, we need to make steps to protect Sanctuary. Roland had a plan just in case he ever disappeared or was ever killed. Talk to Private Jessup at the gate. He'll let you into the city," Reiss told me.

I nodded and started heading toward the gate until I heard the Lieutenant yell.

"JESSUP! Stand up straight! We got a Vault Hunter headed your way!" he yelled.

I smiled a little. Felt nice to be appreciated sometimes.

I was halfway to the gate, when Davis let out another yell.

"Blitz! Look alive everyone!" he yelled.

Then I could feel the city start shaking from the force of something hitting the shield.

"What is that?!" I yelled over to Davis.

"Hyperion moonshot blitz. Without that fresh core you brought, those mortars would've punched right through the shield," he yelled back. Good thing we got back in time. Jesus, is this what these people have to deal with on a daily basis?

I finally reached the gate and the Private stood at attention at my presence.

"At ease?" I said, more questioning than telling. Never really saw myself as a leader. I'm usually working solo. Either way, he eased up.

"Let me get the gate for you," he said, walking over to a console and hitting a button that began to lower the gate. "Commander Roland never came back from his reconnaissance mission. He left very specific orders for this contingency that you can help carry out. Go meet with the town mechanic."

I nodded and strode forward in the middle of the city.

"Angel, we've got a problem. Roland went dark shortly before I arrived at the city," I said, after resuming my ECHO.

"Crap. I mean, darn. Without Roland, the Crimson Raiders don't stand a chance against Jack. Please find out where Roland's gone," Angel said.

"That's the plan. Roland had a plan just in case this happened. So, what is Sanctuary all about?" I asked.

"Sanctuary. Built on the Dahl corporation's first interplanetary mining ship, and now the only home for thieves, murderers, and outcasts. Welcome home," Angel said.

"Welcome home," I repeated. I knew I was going to have to get a feel for the town when I could, but first things first. I needed to get things set up for Sanctuary.

So I went toward the building that immediately caught my attention. Scooter's. It had a wheel next to the name with a cliché looking chick figure on the sign, so I could assume this was the mechanic shop.

I walked in and lifted the garage door up. I could see a man covered in grease asleep in a chair.

"You the mechanic? Or Scooter?" I asked loudly so he would wake up. He looked up and threw his hands in the air.

"Oh, crap. Is you Hyperion? I heard all of you are robots and you eat metal out of the garbage and stuff. Knew you wired death machines would be coming for me once Roland went missing. Now if you're here to kill me, you should probably know..." Scooter said with a long pause. I pulled out my Jakobs pistol and held it at my side just in case things got hairy.

"... you'll never take me alive, you robotic sumabitch!" he said, striking a ridiculous looking pose.

The urge to laugh was almost uncontrollable, but that wouldn't look very impressionable on my part. Plus, regardless of how comical it looked, I knew he was serious.

"I'm not Hyperion. I'm the Vault Hunter that supposedly everyone's been talking about," I said calmly.

"Wait a minute... Heh, well tie to a telephone pole, cover me in honey, and leave me to a slow death at the hands of hungry spiderants. You're not an alien robot. You're a Vault Hunter! That's like a unicorn!" Scooter exclaimed.

"Angel, _huge _understatement. He's missing more than a few chromosomes," I mumbled before speaking aloud. "Lieutenant Davis told me Roland had a plan just in case he disappeared."

"Yeah. You gonna help us out with this Roland situation?" Scooter asked.

"That's what I'm here for," I said, nodding.

"Roland told me if ever disappeared I was supposed to initiate Plan B. Or as I like to call it: Plan-Turn-this-city-into-a-floating-city-of-airborne-awesomeness-ha-ha B. I got some fuel cells around here. You'll need those. Oh, and you'll need this Eridium here too," he said, pulling out 4 stacks of the stuff. The urge to consume it was almost irresistible, but I shook my head and grabbed the Eridium with a gloved hand. I also went around the garage and collected the cells.

"Now head to the center of town and plug those 2 fuel cells into the ignition primers. You're gonna need a 3rd, which is why I gave you that there rid-rock. You can buy the last cell from Earl's black market. Careful though, Earl's crazy. He ate one of my cars once," Scooter said.

"What?" I said, puzzled.

"Yeah... the whole car. Just... like with a fork," Scooter said slowly.

I shook my head and began to insert the fuel cells.

"Bandits of Sanctuary. I hear another Vault Hunter has entered your city. So just turn him into me, and you'll rewarded," Jack said on the ECHO.

In an instant, I brought my Jakobs pistol up and was ready to shoot anyone who tried to grab me. No one did.

"Don't worry. Nobody's going to turn you in. You're our only hope of stopping Jack," Davis told me.

I wasn't too reassured, so I kept my gun at my side as I installed the fuel cells.

"Roland told me we had to have an exit strategery just in case he ever disappeared. Hence all of the fuel cells and what not. Ah, bummer though. He really wanted to meet you. Raiders ain't gonna last without some new blood, and given how given how you shot all of them bandits up, I'd say you and blood gots an extra special relationship. Like cousins taking a bath together," Scooter said with a laugh which quickly deflated when he discovered I wasn't laughing.

I rolled my eyes and inserted the next fuel cell. Then it was time to find this black market. I looked around the city. Firstly, there was a fast travel station here, which saved me the trouble of having to go back to the gate when I needed to get back to the city. I looked to my left and saw a gun shop. I decided to go in because I figured there might be good gear there.

I walked inside and noticed that the owner had a customer.

"Could I have a refund, please? This gun does seem to work," he said.

"Hmm... I don't know..." the owner said before his face broke out into a wide grin. By then, he was recognizable. The Marcus guy who runs pretty much every weapon and ammo vendor. But the wide grin that accompanied his face was followed by a bullet to the customer's knee, who started yelling from the pain. "Looks like it works to me."

When I walked up, I immediately eyed him coldly.

"Try that with me, and you won't live to do it again," I threatened.

"I know your history. I won't try. Anyway, I've got an opportunity for you," Marcus said.

"And what opportunity is that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you know how to use elemental weaponry?" Marcus asked. I shook my head no.

"How about this. I've just got a crate of Maliwan elemental weaponry, and I would love it if you tried them out. You'll be paid of course," Marcus told me.

"I'll gladly help," I said. This was a very good opportunity. Because I didn't know there was more elemental weaponry than just point, shoot, and watch them go down. I didn't know there were fundamentals to it.

"I'll see you in the firing range. Let's test out the fire weapon first, huh?" Marcus said, walking through a side door. I walked to the area on my right and notice that the targeting range was empty.

"Where are the targets?" I asked.

Marcus handed me a fire pistol and snapped his fingers before a guy tied to a pulley system came out from behind the shadows. By the liberal amounts of blood on him, his time here had not been good to him. (Also, in this case, I'm going to go into a little more detail about elemental weaponry. Because Marcus missed the pros and cons to some of the elements)

"Fire is extremely effective against flesh, but against shields and armor, it's nearly useless," Marcus told me.

"GO TO HELL BANDITS!" the man yelled. He was obviously was Hyperion, which made this all the more fun.

"Now, burn that imperialist bastard like a skag steak!" Marcus exclaimed.

I pulled the trigger and his flesh instantly became charred. It doesn't help that the DOT(Damage over time) was turning his flesh into a well done steak.

"Ha-ha, fire and flesh. Quite a nasty combination. Now, how about a shielded target?" Marcus asked.

We swapped at this time he handed me a blue pistol and yet another target was pulled in.

"This Hyperion fascist think he's safe because he's got a shield. Spoiler: He isn't," Marcus said.

"It's only a matter of time before Jack burns this city to the ground, you resistance scum!" the next yelled.

I took aim and shot him 3 times and his shield instantly depleted. Which is pretty fast compared to other weaponry. Even a Jakobs pistol takes about 3 shots with a pistol.

"Take that, Jack lover! A few good hits from a shock weapon will blast a shield away faster than you can say, 'buyers remorse!' Though it has no extra effects on armor or flesh, yet there are people who do resist the element. Certain skags and bandits for example," Marcus explained.

I nodded in understanding and was rubbed my chin with a thumb and index finger. This information really was helpful. Next, I swapped the shock pistol for a green pistol.

"Hmm, now what else... Ah! Armor!" Marcus said. This time a Hyperion robot was attached to the pulley.

"Armored targets, like these damned Hyperion robots, can take a lot of damage. Unless you've got a corrosive weapon," Marcus said.

"Weapons may only be sold by Hyperion arms dealers. All non-Hyperion arms dealers will be forcibly relocated to Jack-ville," the robot stated.

I shot the wiring part of his armor and his arm fell off with the acid spreading across his body with a satisfying sizzling noise.

"See how the acid eats through the metal? I must confess. I love corrosive weapons," Marcus said.

"How does it do on shields and flesh?" I asked.

"Average on flesh, horrible on shields. Now..." Marcus had us swap weapons again. "...let's try out these new slag weapons!"

"Slag?" I asked. I had a strange feeling about it. Like someone took a bite out of my sandwich or something. Just that feeling you get when someone tampered with something of yours.

"It's an Eridian byproduct made into a new element," Marcus explained.

_"That explains the feeling. It's like someone tampered with Eridium," _I thought. Already I felt like Eridium belonged to me when I only absorbed 1 piece. In all honesty, the hunger for Eridium grew in me. It was a wanting hunger rather than a painful one. I had to fight to control myself.

"So what does it do?" I asked.

"Slag is a bit more complex. If you slag your enemy, all _non_-slag damage will hurt even more. Here- slag this chump," Marcus told me.

"This planet belong to HYPERION you-" I cut him off with a shot in the tongue.

"These idiots talk too much," I said stiffly.

"Now that he's slagged, he should be easier to finish off. Switch to another weapon, and hit him again. And unless you're dealing with anyone who was experimented on with slag, you'll be able to slag anyone," Marcus told me.

I nodded and shot him in the head with my Jakobs. Instead of the usual hole the size of a golf ball, his whole head exploded. That was powerful. Even for a Jakobs.

"Great! The weapons work, and you're ready to take on Handsome Jack. Now, lets talk about your payment," Marcus said, handing me 130 bucks. "If you want to purchase any elemental weapons like these, you could always buy some from your friendly neighborhood arms dealer."

"How much for the slag and corrosive pistols?" I asked.

"Four hundred dollars," Marcus said. I handed over the money without complaint and he gave me the slag and corrosive pistols. After I walked out of the shop, I immediately took a right and saw an old hotel with a purple neon sign. It was worth checking out. What better place to host a black market than a run down hotel?

I knocked on the door and a man with crazy looking eyes peeked out.

"Whatchu want?" he asked.

"You have a power core that I need," I said simply.

"Just buy something, and I'll toss in this crap fuel cell. Just touching it made 2 of my fingers rot off. And I only accept Eridium. Cash is for clowns, boy!" Earl exclaimed.

"What can I get for 4 Eridium?" I asked.

"A little more ammo or inventory space on yer ECHO. If somehow in this life get yer hands on 100 Eridium for each space, I'll sell you a good boost for your spaces. So whatchu want?" Earl asked.

I thought about it for a while and thought about the ammo that I would need.

"Sniper," I said, sliding the Eridium through the door. He opened the door slightly and threw the deck upgrade and the fuel cell onto the ground.

"Displeasure doing business with you!" Earl said.

I frowned. This guy I did not trust at all. But those deck upgrades would be helpful in the future.

I figured I needed to go ahead and finish up Plan B before looking around the town more. In case things went bad, we needed that Plan B. So I went to the next cell insertion slot and installed the last fuel cell.

"Hey, thanks for grabbing all of that stuff for me. 3rd degree burns are best taken in shifts. Now, to see the fruits of your loins, this city's gonna fly!" Scooter told me.

All of a sudden, the city started shaking violently as if something was rocking it, but a powering down noise was accompanied by the shaking stopping. Fuck. By the sound off things, it sounded like the plan did not work.

"Or... not. Damn. Now we REALLY got to find Roland. You know what? Maybe get to Roland's place. I think he might have left a message there for you," Scooter told me.

I frowned. I was going to have to take steps to make sure Roland got back here alive. Or this city would be in peril. I noticed a building on my right as I headed into the center of town. The Sanctuary City Archive room. Sounds like the perfect place for a base of operations.

"Vault Hunter! Get in. Roland left a message for you," the Crimson Raider told me, holding out a key.

"Robert to you. Vault Hunter is a label, and I don't appreciate being labeled. Though, thank you for the message," I said, taking the key.

"No problem. Now that you're here, I know we're going to beat Hyperion!" he told me.

I smiled.

"Don't put all of your confidence in me just yet. I am only one person," I said, walking inside the command center and picked up the ECHO lying on the table.

"Hey soldier," the message started. I bristled with irritation at the word 'soldier,' but I continued to listen. "If you're hearing this, I'm in trouble. Right now, you're the only thing between this city, hell, the whole planet and Handsome Jack's army. I left info about my whereabouts in my safe. You can use it to store anything you need. This is your home now. Good luck."

"So many people put their faith in me," I said aloud, clenching the ECHO tightly in my hand. "I won't let them down."

What's strange about picking the occupation of a mercenary is that I had a sense of honor. Something that seems lost upon most people in my occupation. They would be willing to kill their own family for a dollar. The thought made me bristle with rage. I'd do anything for my family, and people are willing to cast them aside like they're nothing.

"Pathetic weaklings," I snarled. Family was all I had in this world. At least before I came here. I may actually have a life here. A life where I can have friends. Love if I'm lucky. I frowned because I had never thought of the subject until now. I over 30 years old and never thought about this before. I guess Pandora had brought out the possibilities that I had.

Either way, I checked the Vault and saw that there were was another ECHO device was in there. And it had plenty of space to store loot. I grabbed the ECHO and listened to the message.

"This is the Firehawk. Come to Frostburn Canyon or people would die," a distorted voice said. Which means, the Firehawk could be anyone. But I don't think it was anyone Hyperion. First of all, Hyperion would gladly make themselves public and tell everyone it's the right thing to do.

"Scooter, who's the Firehawk?" I asked.

"The Firehawk?! You mean the mass murdering bounty hunter? Oh, crap! If the Firehawk's got him, Roland's in DEEP. You got to get to Frostburn Canyon and rescue his ass!" Scooter exclaimed.

I sighed. That wasn't good. I just hope I would be able to get there in time. If Roland has been captured by the Firehawk, he's in danger. You may be the only one who can stop Jack, but Roland is the man with the plan so to speak. He knows the best way to strike at Hyperion," Angel explained to me.

I nodded in a grim disposition.

I headed to the fast travel, but I was stopped by the Crimson Raider.

"Roland left a message shortly before your arrival. I think it's important. You also have two other rewards to claim in at the bounty board. Maybe some people want to help you kill Jack," the Raider told me.

I smiled at the thought of loot. But I was also concerned with the message Roland left. I walked to the bounty board and listened to Roland's message first.

"This is a message to any Crimson Raiders in the area. Sanctuary has been targeted by 4 Hyperion spies masquerading as bandits. They're hiding out in Three Horns. Find them, kill them, and see if you can figure out why they're here," the message said.

I frowned. This was very problematic. That I would have to take care of before I went to Frostburn Canyon. I know Roland would want me to put the welfare of this city over his welfare by the sound of how things sounded. So that was my next stop.

Next, I went for the reward box. Suddenly, there was a sight that made my eyes widen. A big red Dahl loot chest phased on the ground in front of me. I would definitely love this reward, but first I listened to the ECHO.

The sounds did not sound good. There was plenty of screaming and gunshots. But not before a voice spoke up on the ECHO.

"Mercenary, your story has even spread here of how you survived an encounter with Handsome Jack before ending up in Sanctuary. This is how I'm able to get this gift to you," the man said, his voice strained. I could notice that the gunshots were getting louder. It did not sound like he had long.

"I'm one of the few survivors on Pandora's moon. I worked for the Dahl corporation, and Jack has killed our leaders, and so many of our soldier and friends and family. We had a small revolt, but it doesn't sound like it's going to last long after tonight. So..." There was suddenly a loud bang in the background. He did not have long.

"...the stuff in this crate is some of Dahl's best weaponry. Firstly, 2 Dahl Sabre turrets. Barely had time to build them, much less put the attachments on them before Hyperion came knocking on our door. Next, is the Hornet. We found some of the best corrosive cores we could into this gun. It should make quick work of armored foes. Next, is the Pitchfork. Rather than 1 shot fired, it's several in a horizontal line. This one is in shock. Should whittle down shields quickly. Lastly, we have the Emperor. It's an SMG that we used some of the best penetrating bullets we could get on this, so they should do a lot of damage. No thanks are needed for them. Just promise me one thing. If you do get down to it, kill Jack with one of these weapons. Good luck Vault Hunter. You're in for a wild ride."

I heard a loud bang before a loud phasing noise and faint gunshots. I bowed my head in respect to the men who died. And putting a bullet in Jack's head with a Dahl weapon would be the best feeling in the world. I put the items in my ECHO for later.

Then I focused my attention on the second reward to claim. It had a giant box and a note on top with curvy handwriting. _Hope you enjoy. _

I shrugged and opened the box, and was paralyzed what I saw.

Heads. Particularly my parents'. The sight hit me with a bunch of emotions at once. Extreme anger, rage, sadness, pain. But the dominating one was rage. From that point, I don't know what happened next. My body didn't feel like my own and suddenly I unconsciously teleported myself out of Sanctuary. The only thing that came to mind was destroying whatever I could.

* * *

A/N: Yes, essentially I had planned this chapter pretty much the whole way out, which is uncommon for me. Now, why did I give my character pretty much OP Dahl weaponry? Because if you may or may not know in the Pre-Sequel, Dahl and Hyperion locked horns, and Hyperion won. There are the chance of a few survivors, and if a Vault Hunter actually managed to survive 1 encounter across Handsome Jack, than this guy would need all of the help that they could offer him. Right now, there is a _VERY _pissed off siren running rampant with the thirst for blood. I can speak for everyone when I say you only get one result. Hell. On. Earth.


	9. Chapter 9- Meeting Lilith

A/N: I'm so angry with myself. I accidentally deleted the document for this story instead of a different one and I had to start over. I just want to punch myself for making that dumbass move. Anyway, here's the chapter. Later than intended. But I am going to do it differently that I originally planned. Suppose in a way, that was a good thing.

* * *

Rage. Pain. Sadness. Anger. Grief. Hatred. Words that seem too feeble to describe what I was feeling. Even if you combined them all. Once the image sunk in, I couldn't see anything but red after that point. First, were the assassins that were hiding in Three Horns. I don't think any of them expected to see an enraged male Siren blasting apart everything in his path. The odds seemed well beyond never going to happen. But fate has a way of proving you wrong. Dead wrong. The bandits would know that.

Once everyone in the Southpaw area were dead(and both of the Three Horns areas), the rage seemed to deaden and be replaced with a cold fury. To hell with hiding the tattoos. If they were going to hunt me, let them hunt me. I'm not longer hiding who I am. Or what I am. But I had to hold down the resentment and pain inside. It would only be distracting.

_"Your parents are dead. They're not coming back. Get over it and move on," _I thought to myself. I was trying to force it in my brain, but it was definitely easier said than done in this case.

"The Firehawk should be around here somewhere. Stay alert," Angel told me as soon as I got to Frostburn Canyon.

"Always," I said curtly, before I noticed charging Bloodshots heading toward a cave. I dispatched them quickly before continuing forward.

"What are the Bloodshots doing here?" I asked Angel.

"That's weird. The Bloodshot bandit camp seems to be running a raid of the Firehawk's hideout. It looks like they left behind some landmarks to lead their forces. Those should lead you to the Firehawk's lair. That or just... follow the screaming," Angel said hesitantly.

"Step off Vault Hunter. This is between the Bloodshots and the Firehawk. Once my boys bring his ass back to me, he's going to pay for every Bloodshot he killed. We're going to string him up from his own freakin' intestines!" said the guy who sounded like the leader. 'Flanksteak,' I think one of the Bloodshots called him.

"Well that was... needlessly graphic," Angel said slowly.

"All bandits are," I said as I lazily shot bandits. It wasn't even too much of a challenge as I went through most of the bandits who inhabited this place. They had fire weapons, so my shield was able to hold quite a bit and it was easy to take them out using the slag pistol and a Jakobs pistol. Hopefully the Firehawk would actually provide a challenge. A tough kill would make me feel a little better.

Amazingly, some of the bandits even had Eridium on them. I got about 3 bars of them. I had to fight the urge to absorb them now. I felt incomplete unless I absorbed more of them. For now, they would just be a pick-me-up in case I needed it.

I eventually reached a type of cave with some type of hoses on the side. Whatever they were, I could easily assume they were not very safe.

"This is the Firehawk's lair. Be careful friend. There are bound to be traps ahead..."

"OH GOD IN HEAVEN! I CAN TASTE MY OWN MELTING FLESH!" the badass psycho said, charging toward me. If I was on fire, I think the first thing I would do was stop, drop, and roll. But then again, these are psychos.

"See? Traps. Don't let that happen to you," Angel said.

"It won't," I said, running toward the psycho before jumping and slicing its head in half during the leap. Then suddenly a second one came from around the corner and hit me so hard, it nearly depleted my shield. I instantly reacted and shot the psycho consecutively in the head. It took almost 2 clips for it to go down.

Then came the traps. They were made of nothing but proximity flamethrowers. Easy to dodge if you actually paid attention, but unfortunately for the bandits, they did no such thing. Judging by the numerous corpses, they still didn't learn the lesson. It didn't bother me in the least bit. That just made my job easier.

Once I reached what looked like the final checkpoint the bandits left, an earthquake shook the entire cave.

"Hmm, you feel that?" Jack asked. "The sound of those earthquakes marks my drills getting closer and closer to the Vault! That's the sound of progress, baby!"

I didn't bother to respond, because I knew if I did, my temper would reach the point of incoherent thought, which was not what I needed in this situation.

Trying to shake off the particularly grim news Jack gave me, I refilled my ammo and hypos before continuing forward to the Firehawk.

I readied my Maliwan SMG before continuing forward. Something tells me that the Firehawk was no lightweight considering all of the bandit corpses. I'm saying that because these were littered past the flamethrowers.

When I neared the stairs there was a flash of purple, and I could see a slender figure running toward the room, seemingly through shotgun blasts. I ran forward, eager to see the problem, but there wasn't any sign of the slender figure I saw. There were only 2 beefy looking bandits with shotguns that looked like they hit the gym every day.

I shot the first 'Bruiser' and the electricity fried his skin. I dodged the other's shotgun blast, but then there was a fireball that went into the center of the area and it exploded, evaporating the bandits. My shield saved me from the blast, considering they resist fire.

But it wasn't just a random fireball. No in the center was... a Siren?

My eyes widened at the shock of seeing a Siren. The Firehawk was a Siren? Maybe I could understand my heritage more. Plus she was hot, which was a plus. A con? She had likely killed the leader of the Crimson Raiders, which made us enemies. Even with suppressed anger and sadness, I still coherently made sense of everything.

But the Firehawk didn't seem shocked, worried, or affected at all about my presence. No, she seemed genuinely relaxed.

"Sup," she said nonchalantly.

I was tempted to say sup back, but I remembered that she had Roland hostage.

"Where's Roland, Firehawk?" I asked, raising my SMG at her when all of a sudden she collapsed. I raised an eyebrow at this.

"The name's Lilith, but the bandits call me the Firehawk. I'm with the Raiders like you. I keep the bandits in line so Roland can focus on taking down Jack. Anyway, long story, lots of internal bleeding," Lilith said.

_"Lilith? Wasn't that the Siren Hyperion supposedly killed a while ago?" _I thought. I shook it off and decided to get to the core of the situation.

"I still have my doubts about this," I asked. To be honest, the evidence behind her telling the truth was pretty slim at best.

She summoned her ECHO recorder and set it on a specific audio file before handing it out to me.

"Play it," she asked.

I hit the play button and Roland's voice was the first one I heard.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" he asked.

"Vault Hunters," Lilith said.

"They're all dead, thanks to Jack and the Sawteeth. Why'd you bring it up?" Roland asked.

"No, I mean there's a Vault Hunter out there. Alive. Survived Jack's attempt to kill him. Jack just left him for dead in the snow apparently. The Raiders could use his help. You should track him down," Lilith explained.

"Another Vault Hunter, huh? I'll see if I can contact him on my way back to Sanctuary," Roland said. I ended the message right there. That was all of the evidence I needed.

"That's sufficient enough evidence to convince me. Well, hello Lilith," I said politely.

"Hello yourself. Now, could you help me up?" Lilith asked, holding out a hand.

I nodded and reached out a hand, but as soon as it made contact, a purple electric bolt shocked me.

"Ow, damn it!" I said, reeling back from the shock. But as soon as it did, I felt a weird energy in my bones. It definitely wasn't the one I'm used to feeling. No, this one is different.

"What the hell was that?" I breathed out.

"How the hell should I know? That's never happened before," Lilith said, before eying my arms warily. "Are those decoration?"

"Hmm?" I asked, before she pointed to my tattoos. Parts of the sleeve had been torn off and I didn't even realize it. But this was perfect timing.

"Afraid not," I said, pulling out a bar of Eridium and absorbing it. I noticed that I had to consciously absorb it this time. Suppose that's useful. The energy traveled through my body, and it rejuvenated me slightly. When the light dimmed, I could see Lilith's eyes were wide.

"Yeah, it's weird, huh? I'm a Siren. If you can even call me that," I said, holding my arms out for her to see the tattoos better.

"But... I thought all Sirens were female?" Lilith asked, seemingly at a loss for words.

"I thought they were too, but in my case, apparently not. I wasn't born with my powers or the tattoos. These didn't even show until I had first came into contact with Eridium when I killed Captain Flynt. The tattoos burned themselves into my body, which wasn't very comfortable in the least bit," I explained. "But there's a problem. I have no fucking idea how to control my powers. How do learn to use them?"

"Well, mine just kind of came to me. I didn't really try. It just came to me. I can try and assume the same for you," Lilith explained. I sighed. Trial and error. Great.

"You've got some serious explaining to do, but first things first. Try to help me up again. Hopefully without the electric shock," Lilith said, holding out her hand again. I grasped it and pulled her up easily, minus the electric shock.

"Damn, you're strong. Oof. I need a pick-me up. Get me some Eridium, will you? I should have some in one of my strong boxes," Lilith said.

I nodded and walked over to one of her shelves and found some raw Eridium lying in a box.

"Yeah, that's the stuff. Give it here?" Lilith asked.

I ran over to her and placed the Eridium in her hands.

"Appreciate it," Lilith said, absorbing the Eridium. Her skin turned into the dark purple that refined Eridium turns into and her eyes began to glow orange. Her affinity must've been fire. I had yet to figure out what my power even was. What happened before I came here was such a blur, I didn't even know what I did to kill all those bandits. I know I didn't fire a bullet cause my ammo count was still the same.

"Thanks. Anyway, Roland's not here. The Bloodshots managed to grab him after he stepped out for a second. Made em cocky too. They never came after me this hard," Lilith said.

"Fuck. Well, where is he?" I asked.

Lilith opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly there was a loud explosion that shook the cave. I didn't have to second guess what that meant.

"THEY'RE IN HERE! GET EM!" a Bloodshot yelled.

"Good. More bitches to kill," I said, cracking my neck.

"Heh. Now the real fun begins. I'll see if I can't Phaseblast a few of them for ya," Lilith said before turning into a ball of light and moving quickly across the room. I could see that psychos were dropping from the ceiling, when all of a sudden I remembered something.

I took out my knife and when I jerked the blade real hard, the knife extended to the length of a broadsword. I charged toward the psychos with an intent to kill.

"Psychos! Watch out!" Lilith yelled.

"I got this," I said as I blocked multiple swings that the psychos made toward me before ducking and making a large swing that cut the 3 psychos in front of me in half.

"Well done!" Lilith yelled.

When another psycho fell from the ceiling, Lilith ran from there and charged into the psycho, causing him to fly off of the edge. When the second psycho was about to follow his partner, I simply held my sword up vertically and sliced him in half as soon as he fell down.

"They're making this too easy," I said evenly. That was before I saw the badass psycho falling into a swing. He'll flatten me if I stay here.

I did a backflip back to dodge it and swapped the sword for my Torgue assault rifle.

"Badasses!" Lilith yelled.

"I noticed!" I yelled back, blasting the psycho in the head several times over and his head exploded. Then another badass dropped down. Fucking hell.

Then I decided to try and see if there was some type of Siren power I could do with my hands. I'd have to be quick. That psycho was coming toward me fast.

I made the rifle disappear into my ECHO before pushing my hand out. Next thing I know, a purple ball with white energy inside of it suddenly launched out of my hand toward the psycho I was aiming at.

It exploded on contact and blasted the badass to bits. My eyes widened before looking at my hands. Is this the kind of powers Sirens have? If they do, I'm surprised anyone was able to kill one.

"This ain't over yet. Stay on your toes," Lilith warned me.

"Always," I said, summoning my Pitchfork. Never had a chance to try this amazing looking sniper. Then there was another explosion that echoed across the wall of this place. I kind of wanted to try my Siren powers a bit more, but I was a little hesitant about it. I don't know what else might happen. It might not be as awesome as the first time and I might accidentally hit Lilith.

"They've found another way in!" Lilith yelled.

I rushed over to the source of the explosion and saw 2 bandits with Bandit SMGs and a psycho. I fired the Pitchfork and I hit all 3 of them. The armed bandits in the head and the psycho in the chest. And there were still bullets flying past them.

I rushed forward and stabbed the psycho in the chest and he crumpled. As more bandits fell, I went with my tactic to cut them in half as they fell, but eventually they finally learned and changed sides. Finally. I went to the other side and was faced with 3 armed bandits.

I swapped to my Maliwan SMG and shot one of the bandits in the head with 3 shots and it burned the skin off down to his skull.

The other 2 began firing at me, but Lilith dashed into one of them and knocked him back before she leaped onto him and stepped through his chest. Damn, that was awesome. I knocked the gun out of the last bandit's hand, grabbed his head, and crushed it.

"Badasses! Watch out!" Lilith yelled as a badass psycho fell through the entrance and there was another one dropping from the other entrance. Fuck. They're really trying to hit us hard.

When I turned my sights toward the psycho on my left, my body suddenly seized up and I couldn't move. That was, until I got knocked back by the psycho and landed in a heap. I rose to my feet and suddenly dashed forward with Phase energy and knocked the enemy back. That was definitely new. It was exactly what Lilith did a few moments ago.

I didn't have time to be amazed as I had a second badass heading toward me. This was probably really risky and stupid, but I made 2 Phasebombs and threw them at each of the psychos. The first psycho automatically turned into a pile of blood and guts, but the second psycho had a shield! What are the fucking odds? While it didn't kill him, it did hurt him gravely as he couldn't even run toward me. He could barely limp. Lilith dashed or 'Phasewalked' toward the psycho before jumping on his back. Her right arm glowed bright before she punched the psycho through his head and made his head explode. She jumped off of his back with a backflip and landed on her feet. I had to let out a low whistle. That was awesome.

"Whew. That was... fun. Feeling tapped out though. Can you get me another hunk of Eridium?" Lilith asked.

I went over to the other box in the room and handed her the Eridium.

"You're a hell of a fighter," I said, placing the Eridium in her hand.

"You're ever better than I am," Lilith said idly, absorbing the Eridium without a care in the world. I shook my head. Can't people just take the compliment? This happens frequently in my case. Well, when I can find someone I can actually talk to.

"Since the Vault opened, my Siren powers have been getting a little... awesome. Thanks to this Eridium stuff. No idea why. Now, lets talk about rescuing my boyfriend," Lilith said.

I raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't comment. There was a small pang of disappointment in my mind at these words, but I mentally shrugged and decided to move on. For goodness sakes, I barely knew the woman.

"Well, ex-boyfriend," Lilith corrected.

I discarded that piece of information and decided to get my mind on the straight and narrow.

"Alright. Give me the rundown. Where's Roland?" I asked. I needed to get back to the business at hand.

"Before the Bloodshots grabbed him, Roland was gathering intel on the Vault and what Jack plans to do with it. I got to head back to Sanctuary, keeping the city in line while Roland's away. But first I'm going to teleport you into the Bloodshot Stronghold. That's where they're keeping Roland. You'll catch em by surprise and have an advantage. It'll be great. Hold still," Lilith explained.

I nodded. This was going to be awesome.

Lilith began to glow purple before she snapped her fingers and a purple light flashed in my eyes. As soon as the light cleared, I aimed my Hornet pistol, ready for action, but all I saw was Lilith ten feet away from me.

"I just moved you like 10 feet, didn't I?" Lilith said sheepishly.

"Yeah. No offense, but I thought I was supposed to be going to the Stronghold," I said dryly.

"Sorry. I'm still getting used to this. Reminds me though. Bloodshot Stronghold is full of real tough customers. You might want to train a bit before you take them on," Lilith suggested.

"No time for that, and they just sent some of their best. I think it's pretty unnecessary," I said in the same dry tone.

"Very true. And you're doing great work out there, by the way. Keep it up," Lilith said with a smile.

"Thanks," I said, continuing forward. Hopefully Roland wasn't dead by the time I got to him.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter. I think it came out pretty well. It think it was a nice spin on the fight. Lilith actually gets more involved in the fight. I'm pretty sure Gearbox designed Lilith with simple capabilities, but the 4 original Vault Hunters are anything but simple. Except for Brick. He loves to punch stuff, which is pretty simple. But he's a badass, so no one cares. Anyway, until next time!


	10. Chapter 10- Getting the Technical

A/N: I'm back and we're ready to head into The Dust and acquire the bandit technical. I plan on covering everything from our trip into the Dust and the fight with Bad Maw/us entering the Stronghold. This shouldn't take too long to write. Hopefully.

* * *

"Alright killer, I'm back in Sanctuary. Be careful. The Bloodshots have camped all over the dam. You want to get a vehicle to soak up some bullets for you..."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said as I went toward the Catch-A-Ride near the Stronghold and summoned a Light Runner.

I drove in front of the gate they did not have a lookout. That's a really stupid life decision when you have a hideout that contains pretty much your entire gang.

"Huh. No one seems to be around. Just drive up and honk your horn. Maybe this won't be so hard after all," Lilith said.

"You jinxed it," I said flatly. Nevertheless, I went and honked my horn at the gate.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm opening the gate!" a Bloodshot yelled. My eyes widened at the fact of how easy this was. Until...

"Hold it idiots! That don't look like one of our technicals! He's here for our hostage! Get him!" Flanksteak yelled.

"Fuck. Told you that you jinxed it," I said as I quickly jumped in the turret.

"Sorry. I didn't know it would actually happen. Give me a second. I'll find a solution," Lilith said.

Not long after I got in the turret, a minigun turret appeared on a platform that had risen up. I guess it was designed for intruders.

I opened fire on the turret, and it blew up quickly after a few seconds of constant rounds. But then I could see there were bandits dropping down from the walls in an attempt to fight me. Did no good because they didn't last very long against this car's turret. Didn't really take long to kill all of them. I jumped back in the driver's seat and let out a big puff of breath.

"Well, now how am I going to get in?" I said aloud.

"You ain't getting in the dam that way peppernip! The Bloodshots won't let you in unless you drive up in one of their custom trucks. Go see my kin out in the Dust. She'll hook you up with some fancy looking wheels! Hmm hmm!" Scooter said.

"Sweet. There was a back up plan. I'll head to the Dust as soon as I can," I said, turning the vehicle around and heading for a road near the Stronghold.

* * *

Hours. And hours. And more hours it took for me to drive all the way to The Dust. Half of the time there was nothing but dust(ironic) in my vision as I went toward The Dust. I didn't bother contacting anyone as I figured that they wouldn't be very interested in me just driving. After what felt like days, I finally reached a gate with a sign that said 'The Dust' on it. Like most signs on this planet, it was written in blood.

"Goddammit. Finally made it to The Dust," I said.

"Just now?" Lilith asked.

"Yeah. It takes several hours to get here apparently," I said, stifling a yawn.

"Yeah, finally made it to the Dust huh?" Scooter said. "You've been off the ECHO for hours. Thought you might have gotten brained or something. But you ain't so... yay. And stuff. And stuff."

Rolling my eyes that half assed attempt at celebration, I used my sharp eyes too look around the area once I reached the end of this road. I could see a big sign that said 'L's.' That had to have been the right place. So when I drove up, I immediately noticed an obese woman standing in front of a crusher. But there was one thing. Someone was in the crusher.

"I should've killed your fat ass when I had the chance!" he yelled.

"Sorry! What was that? You got to speak up!" Ellie yelled right as the crusher turned him into a pile of blood. "Heh, that was awesome."

"Bit messy though," I said idly.

"Oh, howdy! I didn't see you there!" Ellie exclaimed.

"I figured you wouldn't. It seemed you were... busy," I said dryly.

"How ya doing? Name's Ellie. My brother Scooter told me you was comin'! We don't get many visitors around here. Especially not ones so cute," Ellie said. I shrugged.

"Yeah, it's got that that kind of feeling. But did Scooter told you why I was coming?" I asked.

"Yeah, he did. Trying to rescue your pal Roland from the dam, huh?" Ellie said, making me nod. "I bet you can fool them Bloodshots if you drove up in one of their custom trucks. I got one right over yonder that I..."

"...crushed," I finished, visibly deflating.

"My bad. Well I got a vanilla technical in the shop and most of the parts we need. I just need you to get some Bloodshot trimmings and the like. Spikes, blood, skulls. You know, that kind of thing. You can probably salvage most of that stuff with a few of the bandit patrols around here," Ellie explained.

"I could just steal one," I suggested.

"If you can pull it off. They're always driving around," Ellie said.

"Challenge accepted," I said, turning the car around and driving off. A technical was coming toward my left, so I readied myself and hoped that I would get shot trying to do this.

I jumped from my vehicle and onto the technical. I immediately shot the driver and the guy in the turret, causing the technical to swerve and end up crashing into a big pile of junk and tipping over. I jumped from the vehicle once the thing was about to tip over and killed the four bandits who fell from the backseat with a quick Phasebomb. Seems like my powers were pretty consistent. Lilith was right. It was just natural to learn.

I pushed the technical over and got in it before delivering it to Ellie.

"That was fun," I said as I got out of the truck.

"Nice. Now we just need to get it in the Catch-a-Ride system," Ellie said, walking toward the machine in question. She hit a button and a scanner on top caused the technical to disappear.

"Groovy! Now you can construct any of those bandit looking things from any of my brother's Catch-a-Rides! Come back and see me sometime, you son of a bitch," Ellie said, her voice getting low.

"We'll see," I said.

"And tell Scooter to quit setting my customers on fire! I can take care of myself!" Ellie exclaimed angrily.

"Uh, noted. Now, no way in hell I'm driving back, so thank God for this Fast Travel," I said, activating the switch to take me back to Three Horns Valley.

Once I rematerialized, I went to the Fast Travel near the Bloodshot camp and summoned a Bandit Technical. I had to admit: The design and the vehicle itself was badass.

"Drive up and honk your horn. They should let you in now that your ride looks all Bloodshot-y," Lilith said.

"Emphasis on 'should,'" I said as I went up to the horn and honked it. I crossed my fingers and...

"Looks like one of ours. Let them while I escort our prisoner to the holding cells," Flanksteak said, making my eyes widen. Sounds like Roland arrived not too long ago.

As I saw the gate go down, I jumped out of my vehicle and immediately began using my Emperor to shoot up some bandits. It was very effective for that.

"We've been tricked! Kill him!" Flanksteak yelled.

As I shot the final Bloodshot, my body suddenly spasmed the same way it did when my powers were developing.

"Fucking hell, not again!" I said, going into a kneel. I had to wonder if most Sirens developed as painfully as I was.

"We got an intruder! GET EM BADMAW!" Flanksteak yelled.

The gate began to lower, but before it even came halfway down, a nomad with a shield jumped from the very top and landed. But when he put down his shield in a defensive position, I noticed that there were 3 midgets tied to it. Cruel, but effective.

"Watch out! They got a badass!" Lilith yelled as I was trying to crawl out of the line of fire.

"I realize that!" I yelled impatiently.

"Nice gear you got!" the nomad yelled. I knew he was coming around that corner quickly. I balled my hands into fists and rose to my feet to fight the random spasms.

I jumped from behind the cover and all of a sudden, my body became a transparent white. I ran toward the nomad and charged into him at top speed. The force was powerful enough to knock him back quite a few feet. The midgets on the shield were killed instantly as they were fried to a crisp. Looks like that thing at Frostburn Canyon wasn't a fluke. I actually had Lilith's power. Her affinity with fire as well judging by the midgets burnt to a crisp.

I once again balled my hands into fists and focused. With my tattoos glowing and my eyes being concealed by a veil of a bright white, I started the Phasewalk and charged into him through his shield and made him do flips in the air from the force. I also noticed the his armored clothing seemed singed. I assumed a stance. Time to end this.

I ran toward him at normal speed and he finally began to shoot at me. His aim was terrible and any shots that did come near me, I dodged easily. I jumped and performed a mid-air corkscrew. From there, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Once I was through his shield, I straightened out instantly and grabbed on the edges of his shield.

"Sup homie," I said before I put energy on my fist and punched a hole in his chest before making a Phasebomb in my hand and setting it there as it exploded. Half of my body was covered in blood and organs, but the badassery of that was so good that I didn't even care. I then looked at my hands.

"Oh yeah. I think this is going to work out just fine," I said in a satisfied tone. I was opening and closing my hands as if I suddenly was trying to adjust to new hands.

I took the key off Bad Maw so I could get in. Luckily the Phasebomb destroyed his body rather than his armor which held the key. Luckily. Otherwise, I'd have to hope that I had Lilith's teleporting ability as well.

As the bridge fell, I reloaded my Emperor and already had it in iron sights. Something tells me this place would be crawling with bandits.

* * *

A/N: I could've made this longer, but I decided not to because I like torturing you all. My approach on the technical? The only person who could achieve such a badassery moment would be Zer0. But no one thought of just stealing one off of them, so I decided to do it. I also hoped you like the Mad Maw fight. I think it came out considerably better than when you play through the game. Hope you enjoyed and continue to come back for more.


	11. Chapter 11- Rescuing Roland

A/N: Now we're in the Bloodshot Stronghold. This chapter will cover everything from when we get in to when we get to Sanctuary. This chapter might be quicker than you think. Now, let's continue.

* * *

_"If I ever had to guess this place was inhabited by bandits, this would be it,"_ I thought while looking around the place.

Blood was all over the place. The walls, the floors. It even covered the Fast Travel almost completely. It didn't help that the place stunk. It smelled of rotted corpses, blood, and shit. It stunk so bad, it made me want to burn the place to the ground.

"I'm in, and it stinks in here," I said on the ECHO.

"You're in? Good. Roland should be around here somewhere. I'm sure you can handle yourself, but if anything happens to Roland... make sure nothing happens to Roland," Lilith stressed.

"I got it. You want your boyfriend alive and well," I said, pulling the Emperor after passing the Fast Travel station.

I drew my Jakobs sniper and had my sights up when I looked in the next room. There were bandits that were patrolling the room, which suggested they knew I was coming since they would most likely be relaxing. But why didn't they just keep their guns aimed at the entrance? It would've made sure they didn't miss me. I shook my head before sniping the nomad with the shield in the head. Figured he would be the most annoying to get rid of in a fair fight.

I quickly changed tactics and swapped to a Jakobs pistol before Phasewalking in the middle of the group and burning them alive with a powerful fire nova. Then using my Gunslinger abilities, I barely glanced at the three bandits around me before hitting them in the head a pistol bullet.

I then swapped to my sniper before continuing. But then I noticed a safe on the left while there was ECHO chatter going on.

"Look Hyperion. I'm not asking much for Roland. A million bucks! Hello?! This thing on?!" Flanksteak exclaimed.

"You handling the Bloodshots all right?!" Lilith exclaimed.

"I'm fine. No need to get worked up," I said calmly, breaking the switch on the safe and taking the money out of the safe.

"They've been trying to take Roland out ever since he kicked their asses out of Sanctuary. I should've seen it coming," Lilith said a tone that scolded herself.

"Not your fault. It would've been impossible to know when and how. Bandits aren't very organized, so they likely wouldn't have discussed their plans. So don't blame yourself for something that was not in your power to stop," I said as I went into a sniper's kneel and eyed the bandits through my scope.

"That's... comforting. Thanks for that. I say I really needed it,' Lilith said.

"No problem. Now we can have pleasant conversations when I'm back at Sanctuary with Roland safe and sound, ok?" I said gently.

"Yeah sure. You sure aren't a normal mercenary," Lilith said.

"No. I actually have morals and emotions. They make me who I am," I said as I was able to snipe a psycho and 2 marauders in the process. A Bruiser, a nomad with a midget tied to the shield, and a psycho who started running at me when I shot the third bandit.

I pulled out my knife/sword and decided on the knife edition of it. I ran forward and the bruiser was firing his shotgun at me from long range. I would have a decent reprieve until I got up close, so I decided keep my distance and toss the blade into his forehead before grabbing it out before his corpse fell.

I instantly changed it to a blade to block the psycho's swing and literally disarm him before grabbing him by his neck and turning him around to block the assault rifle shots from the nomad. As soon as his clip was empty, I reacted.

I tossed the sword through the midgets before going into a Phasewalk and blasting the sword through the nomad with so much force, a hole the size of a Bandit Technical tire was blasted in his stomach and the sword ended up embedded in the top of the garage door.

The door tried to raise up, but couldn't go all of the way before the sword halted it's progress. Even when powered by a motor, the sword wouldn't break. Of course, I was more focused on the badass psycho charging toward me.

I jumped high in the air and pulled my sword from the top of the garage door before focusing on the psycho. He was a few meters from me when I landed. I decided to try something different. I used my thumb and index finger to trace the top and bottom of the sword before it was left with a red glow. I embedded the element of fire into the sword.

At soon as I did, I brought my sword up to block the psycho's swing, and it cut his weapon clean in half. I didn't give him time to process it as I jumped and cut his arm off while doing a 360. Next, I brought the sword into a swing and cut him in half. This was getting too easy. And more fun.

When I continued, I noticed more bandits arriving from the garage. I switched to my slag pistol and hit each foe with a bullet. Now they were covered in the disgusting purple substance.

"What the hell is this stuff?!" a bandit exclaimed, trying to wipe the stuff off.

I swapped to the Emperor and took it off burst fire mode. As I did so, I just blasted on all of them. The time they actually have shields, they're slagged. Not good for them. They crumpled as quickly as if the didn't have a shield as 2 of the shots hit their head with me just randomly firing. But then chatter came up again.

"Ok, Hyperion! A hundred thousand bucks for Roland! That's my final offer! ECHO me back so we can negotiate, already!" Flanksteak yelled.

"Hyperion wants Roland bad. Even if they aren't paying the Bloodshots for him, they'll be coming. You have to hurry," Lilith said. That meant time was quickly running out. I couldn't waste time fighting these fools.

"Then I won't fight them. I'll run through them," I said, going into a Phasewalk and dashing up the stairs, up ladders and getting to a garage. I blasted open the garage with a Phasebomb before going into another Phasewalk and running through the Stronghold practically at the speed of sound. It was pretty stupid to use my powers in quick succession like this, but this was really more important at the moment.

"Somebody stop that slaggund from springing Roland! We lose him, we lose our payday!" Flanksteak exclaimed. There were 3 bandits in the prison block and I knew they were going to try and prevent me from getting to Roland, so I ended my Phasewalk with a nova just like Lilith did to the Bruisers in Frostburn Canyon. It reduced them to nothing but blood and severed body parts instantly.

But I leaned down while holding my knees. I was dead tired from all that effort. Then I remembered the Eridium I had.

I took out a piece of Eridium and absorbed it. I instantly felt refreshed from the boost of energy it brought me. And I still had about 3 pieces left.

I looked through the various cells trying to find Roland. Many of them held sleeping bandits, who were either dead or knocked out to not hear all of that commotion. One of the cells had a giant loot chest that definitely peaked my attention. I decided to take a few minutes to try and find the switch. I mean, this was the cell block. Roland had to be in one of these. And this wouldn't take long.

I turned around and spotted a ladder which likely led to something, so I climbed it and noticed a green light around a corner. A closer look revealed that it was a loot chest. I eagerly went over to it and spotted 2 assault rifles. One Jakobs, one Dahl. I grabbed both of them. They weren't of any use to me, but they would be worth some extra cash.

I looked across from this position and saw a small shack over there. The question was how was I going to get over there. A thought then occurred to me.

_"If I really have Lilith's powers, I should be able to teleport as well,"_ I thought. Worth a shot.

I balled my hands into fists before concentrating my thoughts on teleporting over to that destination. A brief flash of purple later, and I was over at the exact place I wanted to be. I smiled. I was getting good at this.

Looking around the room, I saw that there were various switches covering a wall with some green, some red. The red ones refused to move, so I hit all the green ones which turned red after I flipped them. It was better than trying to figure out which was the right switch.

When I jumped down and ran over to the cells, a smile covered my face at the sight of the cell door open.

"How I love loot," I said, opening the crate. Inside was a fire Maliwan sniper, Jakobs shotgun, and Torgue assault rifle. I hit the jackpot on this one. I grabbed everything and also got all of the ammo I needed. Finding good loot was one of the best feelings in the world. At least for me.

Then I moved on and searched the very few cells that were left. There was one straight ahead that was left, and I saw someone lying on the bunk. And it wasn't a bandit.

The man inside was black just like I was, which surprised me. I didn't see too many people that were black just about anywhere. Excluding my mom. He was dressed in a combat sweater, cargo pants, and combat military style boots.

"Roland?" I asked, gripping 2 of the bars and looking through it.

"Vault Hunter! Good to finally meet you in person. Hell of a job fighting through those Bloodshots..." Roland said.

"It's Robert. I'd prefer not to be called by a label," I corrected him.

"Alright. Robert then. Now, think you can get me out of here?" Roland asked.

"I definitely can," I said, pulling out the Hornet and blasting 3 bars and weakening them before prying them off. "There. Now we just got to head back to the fast travel. There are likely more bandits on the way. Think you can handle them?"

"I'll need some gear first. I can only keep this turret on me," Roland said, holding a small device in the palm his hand.

"Why didn't you use that when they locked you up?" I asked.

"It's no good behind bars. The shots would hit the bars, and the only shoot electricity rounds, which are no good," Roland explained.

"Oh. Makes sense," I said, before remembering something. "Would you say that you're good with turret installments?"

"Yeah. I've had to make a few tweaks to my turret. Why?" Roland asked.

"How about Dahl Sabre turrets?" I asked.

"Scorpio turrets are a lot more complicated, but Dahl turrets are more effective. Which makes me wish I had one. Are you saying you own one?" Roland asked.

"Two to be exact. A gift from Dahl. I've got a lot of installments on them, but I can't take the time to put them together because I'll be busy dealing with Jack. Think you can help me with that?" I asked.

"I'll see what I can do. But we have to get to Sanctuary first," Roland said.

"No need," I said, knowing what I was about to do extremely stupid. I grabbed Roland and teleported us to Sanctuary. And right in front of Lilith. "Surprise!"

Roland jumped back about a foot and Lilith let out a girly shriek that I didn't think she was capable of before trying to hit me with a energy punch, which I blocked with one of my own.

"What? Can't take a joke?" I said with a smirk and fighting the urge to laugh. "In less than 5 minutes, I'm already better than you with your own power. I love it."

"What the hell was that?!" Roland exclaimed. I put my tattoos in front of his face.

"Pretty freaky, right? Me and Lilith are bond sibs," I said, placing a friendly arm around her shoulder. She shrugged it off with an irritated look and Roland looked absolutely shocked.

"How is that even possible?" Roland asked in a disbelieving voice.

"That's what I was wondering. It's pretty insane," Lilith said, her arms crossed and in a thoughtful look.

"How do you think I felt when I woke up with tattoos carving themselves into my body? Not very pleasant either," I said, flexing my shoulders unconsciously at the thought.

"Very true," Lilith said, before turning to Roland. "I'm really glad you're ok."

"Thanks to Robert. He's good to get through the Stronghold like that. Even if he is a 'Siren,'" Roland said, using finger quotes.

"It's no problem at all. Now we need to get to business. Jack," I said, crossing my arms smoothly and going into serious mode. Joke time was over. I had a blood debt to fulfill.

"Handsome Jack is going to kill us all unless you can stop him," Roland said bluntly.

"Well, if that doesn't up the pressure on the situation, I don't know what does," I said dryly.

"He means hi. That's his way of saying hi," Lilith corrected.

"That's a very weird way of saying hi," I said blandly.

"Right. Sorry. Hi. I'll be honest Robert. We're losing this war. We've been trying to stop Jack for years. Taking out his men... raiding his Eridium mines, but it hasn't been enough. But you. You fought Jack and lived. You fought off the Rippers and the Bloodshots. Saved my ass and Lilith's," Roland praised.

"Thanks by the way," Lilith said, making my rub my neck in slight shyness.

"It's no problem. Now, what about this info Lilith mentioned?" I asked.

"Now, we thought Jack wanted to open a Vault and use it's power to wipe us off Pandora. But thanks to some intel I stole from a Hyperion convoy, I found out... we were wrong," Roland said.

"What?" me and Lilith asked at the same time. Roland turned to speak more to Lilith this time around.

"He's not going to open a Vault. He's going to control it," Roland said.

"I am so confused right. What?" I asked.

"The Vault Jack's looking for isn't a cache of weapons or an alien prison. It's a living thing. An ancient, Eridian Warrior. Powerful enough to destroy all life on Pandora. Whoever awakens it, gets to control it," Roland concluded.

"That sounds... bad," Lilith said.

"No shit it sounds bad. How can we stop him?" I asked.

"If we can control The Warrior first..."

"We can use it to wipe Hyperion off of the planet," me and Lilith said again in sync. This time we made eye contact with each other before quickly looking away. That was getting a bit weird.

"Anyway..." Roland said to break the awkward silence. "...there's a problem. We need the Vault Key to wake The Warrior, and Jack's already got it. But, if you've spoken to Tannis..."

"She didn't vomit when she saw you did she? She does that sometimes," Lilith said.

I frowned. I know it wasn't meant to be degrading, but it still felt that way.

"She might've told you that the Key needs to be charged with Eridium. We're racing against time. Every ounce of that stuff Jack pumps into the ground makes him getting closer to gaining control of that Warrior and taking us out. Now, if anyone knows where the key's being kept, it's my spy out in Tundra Express. He's as good as gathering intel as he is at drinking. So I'm pretty sure he's sleeping off last night's booze right now as we speak. You'll need a fire weapon to wake him up. I'll explain when you get there," Roland explained. "If you don't have a fire weapon, Marcus might sell them."

I nodded. This plan seemed pretty solid.

"Alright. I'll take care of it. And if you want to take a look at the turret for me, it's in the safe. I'll see you both later," I said, running out of the opening and jumping off the room and onto the ground. But not before I heard Roland speak.

"What the hell was that?" he said.

I didn't know what he meant by that, but I had an objective to complete. I need to steal a priceless alien artifact. Easy right?

* * *

A/N: I think this chapter came out pretty good. Now, the reason why we got no visits from loader is because my trip in the Dust was shorter than it would've been in the game and plus I was able to Phasewalk most of the way to Roland and teleported before the other reinforcements could get to us. Therefore, no Hyperion. And no W4RD3N bullshit. That boss was annoying when I first played normal mode. Because it's a constructor who's concentration is almost impossible to break. So... yeah. Anyway, I'll see you all next chapter


	12. Chapter 12- Psychos and Betrayal

A/N: I'm back and we're gonna steal a Vault Key! I do plan on covering everything from when Angel sends us to The Fridge, so this chapter will be SUPER LONG. Seeing the innuendo here? lol. Anyway, let's continue! P.S: We're gonna get a visit from one of the Vault Hunters. I want to see if you can guess who before you read.

* * *

The trip to the Tundra Express was far more easier than the one to The Dust. From the point where I had to get out and walk, I only had to walk a few meters before I reached a cave infested with Bullymongs. Since the Southern Shelf, a few here and there were a piece of cake to kill. Some of the mongs even had cash in their hides. I guess they use their hides to hold things they want to carry. I admit, it was very adaptive. Especially for a bunch of 4 armed ape creatures.

Once I reached the end of the cave, I could see a Fast Travel station next to vendors for health and ammo. This seemed like the Tundra Express. Due to the fact that it's actually named, leads me to believe that it would contain stuff like this. Then I recognized it. This was the place where I got onto the train. Where everything first started...

"Roland, I'm at the Tundra Express," I said, shaking my head of the memory.

"You'll have to signal our man. I'll bet anything he's sleeping off a hangover, so you'll need to wake him up," Roland said.

"What does that have to do with needing a fire weapon?" I asked, holding my Maliwan sniper in my hand. I figured it would be good enough.

"This place is inhabited by small, insect like creatures known as Varkids. They evolve if you injure them enough into stronger forms of themselves. They make a loud, irritating screeching noise if you light them on fire. It's how you're going to wake up our spy. You got a fire gun right?" Roland asked.

"Yes I do. I'll wake him up," I said, running forward and heading toward one of the Varkid nests. They immediately noticed my presence and started forming to attack me. I hit one of them with my sniper, but he was dead on the spot. This wasn't very productive.

"The Varkids won't make that screeching noise unless you _burn _them," Roland stressed.

"Yes, I realize this. This gun kills them before it would light them on fire. Cut me a break," I said moodily, watching the Varkid I shot turn to ash.

"There's a number of plants called Firemelons out there. Shoot one while the Varkids are in the radius, and they'll be lit," Roland explained.

"That would've made this a lot easier than using a fire weapon. What was the point of getting one?" I asked in disbelief.

"In case you failed to do so when you were out of the plant," Roland said simply.

"Oh," I said in a short tone. It made a lot of sense.

Either way, I shot the ground in front of me to keep the Varkids' attention focused on me. Then I looked around for anything resembling the plant Roland was talking about.

Then I spotted it- A plant with 4 extensions that resembled stalker melons. (I can only imagine they would make fruit from stalkers) Only they were on fire, but not burning. This looks like it fit the description.

I ran over to it and enticed the Varkids to come closer. Mostly by shooting the ground near them. Once I got near the Firemelon, the heat emanating from it was so strong, it would melt an ice cube in seconds.

But once the Varkids were close, I teleported a few meters away before shooting my Jakobs pistol at one of the melon extensions.

The plant exploded in a small burst, but was enough to light the 5 Varkids I was leading on fire. The screeching got so loud and annoying, I had to cover my ears from it. That would likely even wake a dragon up. And they were some of the deepest sleepers. After a few seconds of waiting, I was beginning to think that it didn't work. Until I could hear yawning coming from a nearby ECHO.

"Hey Vault Hunter. Welcome to the Crimson Raiders," he said.

"Please. It's Robert. What was the thing with the Varkids all about?" I asked, killing the rest of the Varkids that were swarming toward me.

"Sorry you had to wake me up. Bloodwing and I may have celebrated too hard when she and I raided a Hyperion convoy. Ain't that right, Blood?" he asked. Then I could hear a screech of confirmation. Whatever Bloodwing was, she sounded vicious. And intelligent.

"Hehehe. Easy girl. So... a Hyperion train is speeding through the Tundra Express. If my intel's good, and it usually is, the Vault Key itself might be on board. My advice? Do what I'd do. Steal the Key, get drunk, pass out," he said, with a screech of confirmation from Bloodwing.

"Noted. Though I don't have the time to pass out. Didn't catch your name though," I said.

"Mordecai. And while you're in this area, I can provide you with a little cover fire from my location," Mordecai said.

"Good. That'll help. Did you catch that Roland?" I asked.

"I did. Without the Key, Jack can't control the Warrior. You've got to hijack that train. My old friend Tina can help you - go talk to her," Roland said, marking my ECHO with the coordinates.

I knew if this train passed through before we could hijack it, we may miss our only chance of swiping the Key. So I skipped every Varkid I passed and went straight for the waypoint.

On the way, I spotted a bandit patrolling through the place with a Torgue assault rifle. Not the minigun version. I ran up to him without a care in the world and decapitated him. I swiped the 10 dollars he had on him before spotting an ECHO. I picked up the ECHO with a curiosity. Most bandits don't carry these. This I had to see.

"If you're hearing this, you just killed me. And let me just say, no hard feelings. Before you wasted me, I kept some of my best guns in my garage. Considering how badass you must've been to have blown me away, I'd say you deserve them. I know this sounds like some sort of... trap, but you're just going to have to trust me," the message said. It then gave me the coordinates to a location.

I frowned. Most bandits would never reward you for killing them. I could see if he was telling the truth, but I had a train to deal with and I didn't have time to deal with a possible trap and a general waste of my time. I ignored the coordinates and just followed the waypoint that Roland sent me.

"Tina's a bombmaker and a friend of mine. I've saved her life a few times and she's saved mine even more. She'll help you out, but here's a tip. Don't make any sudden movements near her," Roland warned.

I frowned. This sounded like one paranoid bombmaker. But with Hyperion running rampant all over Pandora, I couldn't blame her.

When I neared the waypoint, I noticed that a metal door was pulled up and the bandits all around the location. Tina had likely barricaded herself inside the place to keep herself safe from them. Guess bombmakers know how to prepare themselves.

Before I continued forward, I decided to rid the place of the bandits standing outside by sniping the lot of them. A bunch of them were standing in a horizontal formation, so the Pitchfork was perfect for this situation. One shot, two bullets, three confirmed headshot kills. Got to love the numerical order in that. (Remember, the Pitchfork takes 2 bullets per shot)

Of course, his fellow bandits didn't like that, so they immediately began shooting at me as I saw a gigantic goliath with a helmet and a minigun in his hand. My eyes widened. This one I had not seen so far.

So I ended up tossing a grenade at the group of marauders to make them dodge out of the way while I was able to teleport behind the goliath armed with the minigun and, summoning Phase energy, punched a hole the size of one of my Phasebombs through him. Next, I simply unpinned a grenade and dropped it in the hole before teleporting behind a marauder and impaling him through his back with my knife and twisting the blade to really make him feel the pain.

"What are you?!" a marauder yelled in a panicked voice, still trying to shoot at me. But his aim was no where near close to me. I turned around serial killer slow and smiled sadistically at him. I Phasewalked toward him and lifted him up by the throat before whispering in a slow and deliberate tone.

"I'm a Siren. And don't you forget it while you're in Hell," I said, before igniting my hands with fire and burning his throat to the point where it turned crispy before falling apart. I had a small control over the fire element, but I couldn't use it more flexibly. Guess that takes more practice.

The final marauder simply looked at me with his gun raised. He seemed too scared to do anything unless I tried something.

"I'll help you out with that," I said before pulled out my Jakobs pistol in the blink of an eye and shot him in the head before twirling the pistol with my index finger and holstering it.

"Come on i-in-i-in! You're missing the fun!" a playful voice told me on the ECHO. Then I noticed the metal gate was rising and I was able to go in. Guess the bandits were the problem.

I ran inside and there were 2 things that immediately caught my attention. The psycho strapped to a stick of wood and... a 13 year old girl? This I had to see.

"All around the Sta-actus plant, the stalker chased the bandit, the stalker thought twas all in fun, POP!" the girl said, jumping on the detonation switch. "Goes the bandit!"

"Ok... then. Was not expecting a 13 year old," I said, scratching my head in disbelief.

"Oh, hiiiii!" Tina exclaimed.

With a little apprehension, I walked up to Tina over the place where a psycho had just been blow into little, sticky pieces. It made me wonder if there were other psychopathic people in this place. Besides traditional psychos of course. I have no doubt they would be almost or just as interesting/surprising. Perhaps more interesting if I'm 'lucky.'

"Hello. You Tina?" I asked politely.

"Yup! You Robert? Roland told me you were coming. I still owe him for all of that butt-crap with General Rancid, so you need to hijack a train, huh?" Tina asked.

"That's the idea. You wouldn't happen to have any way of hijacking it, do you?" I asked, making her blow a raspberry.

"Chiiilds play! Let introduce you to my_ ladies_," Tina said, her tone suddenly deep and deliberate.

"Ladies?" I asked with a questioning eyebrow. But Tina seemed to pay my statement no mind and started heading over to her garage.

"Running, running, running, I'm running over here. Run, run, r-run run," Tina said before hitting the button to the garage. She then went over to a shelf and gestured to 2 stuffed dolls.

"This here is Mushy Snugglebites, and that's Felicia Sex-o-pants. These fine ass damsels can hijack that train for ya, but I'm gonna need there Badonkadonks first, and they got stoled by the bandits a few weeks ago. _Go get em!_ Naptime!" Tina exclaimed, falling on her bed. I walked out of her hideout, bewildered beyond than what I thought possible.

"Roland, you never told me Tina was a 13 year old," I said, contacting him on the ECHO.

"I didn't think it was too relevant. And I know Tina can be... odd. But she's the most gifted demolitions expert on Pandora. Just do what she asks, and I promise she'll help you hijack that train and steal the Vault Key," Roland said.

"I have no doubt about that. Just a little warning next time would be nice," I said before signing off.

I continued forward to the waypoint Tina sent me, before I noticed a sight that puzzled me. I could see someone walking on the tracks for the Hyperion trains that ran through out this place. That was suicidal. But that wasn't what really took the cake. He was carrying a psycho's buzz axe, but it was bigger, less bloody, and more vicious looking. But rather than walking around with bandits, he seemed to remain on his own without a care in the world.

Curiosity overtook me, and I walked over to him with my knife before extending it into a blade. I had a feeling this one _wasn't_ like traditional psychos.

"I'M READY FOR A SPINE TINGLER!" he suddenly yelled. But then there was something else that interested me. I could hear a softer voice. Like a thought rather than a voice.

_"Yeah, great. Hey, remember back when we were sane?"_ the voice said.

"SHE CAN TASTE THE BLOODY HATRED!" the psycho said. But then the voice responded again. It was almost like I was bugging his thoughts. But... that was something completely foreign of Sirens. At least of what's recorded. And psychos... I don't have a connection with any of them. So why was this one different?

_"Guess not. Still can't hear me, can you? You know, that little voice in your head trying to remind you of the time when we could go hours, days even, without screaming about a desire to ride bicycles made of meat?"_ the voice said, shocking me completely.

Ok, beyond all logic, that psycho DEFINITELY had a sane side to to him. At least in his thoughts. But... there was one underlying question. How in the HELL was this even possible? I mean, all psychos were insane, right? At least to my knowledge. But this was definitely a psycho. The mask and buzz axe contributed to that fact. Not to mention the crazy language that no one can understand. But I don't read the minds of any psychos. Yet this one was different. He was half-sane somehow. Insane in body, but sane in thought. Which likely meant somewhat sane in his actions.

But when I heard the train coming, I knew for a fact he would be mashed to nothing if he didn't move. Regardless of how stupid it may have been, I yelled out to him.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I yelled out to him.

The psycho seemed to hear me and turned around before spotting the train. He immediately dived to the left to get out of the way. He seemed slightly injured from his fall, but otherwise unharmed. Then he looked at me with a long, curious look. His eyes were still wide and crazed, but I could sense a type of focus from the lingering stare.

_"Did he... save us?" _the inside voice.

"I did save you. You're welcome," I said, decided to walk closer.

"YOU KNOW OF THE HIDDEN WAYS OF THE SACRED MEAT!" the psycho yelled. I scratched my head because obviously, that made no type of logical sense. But the inside voice did.

_"You can actually hear me?" _the voice said.

"I think so. Beyond all belief, I can hear you. I can understand you," I said kindly.

"I HAVE VOMIT COMING OUT OF 2 HOLES!" the psycho yelled. No matter what situation I was in when it came to psychos, they've never made sense when talking.

_"Just ignore pretty much everything that comes out of my physical mouth. Only focus on this one. It's misled people quite a bit," _the voice said.

"That I have no doubt. But... why are you like this?" I asked.

"Memories..." the psycho said quietly. I looked at him puzzled. That sounded more sane. And more relevant to the case.

_"Many of my memories were blocked off since the incident occurred. I remember a few things. A Hyperion facility... My daughter... And pain. A lot of it. It broke me, but not completely. I still retain some of my old self. I can convince the psychopathic side of me to only slaughter the guilty," _the voice explained.

"Hyperion..." I said slowly before anger flared in my eyes again. My body was trembling with rage and my tattoos and eyes began to glow white again, along with my wings showing themselves again. Another life these monsters have ruined...

"YOU HAVE THE SMELL OF PAIN AND BRIGHT LIGHTS!" the psycho yelled.

_"Whoa. Never seen anything like this. You look like a Siren warrior. Amazing," _the voice said.

I tried to find it within my ability to calm down. I still had an objective to complete. My 'Sireness' faded and I concentrated on the man in front of me. Not a psycho. A man. Half broken, but still alive. Still fighting.

"Would you like your revenge?" He nodded. "Help me on my quest. Become a Vault Hunter along with me and we'll kill the bastard that has taken our family from us," I said viciously before putting my fist over my heart in a sign of respect.

The psycho spread his arms out as if giving himself to the world and let out a loud roar. It was that kind of guttural roar that could send people running for the hills. As soon as he did that, he put his fist over his heart as well.

_"It would be my pleasure. They will know the metal of my axe as I cut their throats out with them,"_ the voice said viciously. _"__What is you name friend? I am Krieg." _

"I am Robert. Right now I need to steal the Vault Key in order to prevent Jack from opening the Vault to gain control of a creature that will wipe out all life on Pandora. That is our priority, or no one on Pandora will have a life. You with me?" I asked, tossing him a shield.

Krieg put it on and lifted his axe before swinging it in mid-air and it and held it aloft that practically spelled slaughter in neon letters.

_"Ready," _he said.

"Follow me," I said, continuing forward to get these 'Badonkadonks' or whatever they were called. Whatever they were, they sounded like important pieces to hi-jacking the train. Therefore, they were vital to this mission.

"That's right bitches- My big brudder's about to teach you some MANNERS. Nobody steals Mushy Snugglebites' Badonkadonk and lives!" Tina yelled. I shook my head. Am I doomed to have most of my friends be lunatics?

"WHO THE HELL IS MUSHY SNUGGLEBITES?!" a nomad yelled before Krieg jumped in the air and planted his axe in his head.

Krieg had taken the liberty of going on a rampage and directing all of the gunfire away from me. He had a little help from Mordecai, who slagged just about every enemy on the field with only one sniper bullet per enemy. It had a shit ton of splash damage on it.

While Krieg was playing 'tag' with the bandits, I took the liberty of looking for these objects that Tina needed. I spotted a pink missile lying on a table. Were these the Badonkadonks? I examined it. This thing was powerful enough to level a city block. That made a lot of sense. I picked up the missile and stored it in my ECHO.

"That's Mushy Snugglebites' Badonkadonk. She's my main squeeze. Lady's got a butt full of dynamite and a booty like POW," Tina said, making me shake my head.

"Have I found a person who's talk makes just as much sense as a psycho's?" I wondered aloud.

I began to move on to find the second missile. Krieg was running up the stairs before I could really do anything. He was really taking the initiative in this whole thing. Well, slaughtering bandits that is.

I ran up the stairs with my shock SMG I got from Reiss and watched as Krieg was surrounded by bandits. No way even he'd take enough of those bullets not to be taken down. And trust, psychos are pretty resilient even without a shield to go down. At least if you aim for anything but the head, which seemed to be the intention of these bandits.

Holding my SMG in one hand, I tossed a Phasebomb at the shock nomad shooting at Krieg, obliterating him and the marauder next to him.

"Feel it!" Mordecai exclaimed.

Turning the corner, there was a marauder slagged thanks to Mordecai's sniper shot. I shot him twice in the head with my SMG and he went down easy. Slag was an amazing element. It made killing a lot faster.

Turning around, I could see that Krieg was charging toward 3 marauders and a goliath with a group of marauders firing at him across another area where I could spot the other missile. I then noticed that Mordecai had hit one of the marauders from the vantage point and slagged the entire group around him. Sweet.

"Thank you, thank you," Mordecai said, making me smile. He was a hell of a shot. I'll give him that.

Teleporting to the rocket, I pulled out my Pitchfork and steadied my shot before firing the gun and killing all of the bandits with one shot. They weren't even headshots. I fired the Pitchfork from the hip and it cut them all in half. The slag and the Pitchfork definitely had power if you combined them.

Krieg sliced the head off another bandit while more bandits that were coming out of houses were shooting at him. I hit both marauders with a sniper shot each from my fire Maliwan sniper and shot the goliath in its gun hand. It only took one shot because of the slag shot from Mordecai. Krieg was able to finish the job from there as he sliced the goliath in half from the bottom up. The axe was so tough, it cut through the goliath's helmet with ease. As he wrapped up the goliath, I grabbed the missile and stored it in my ECHO.

"Got the Badonkadonks?" Tina asked.

"Yup. They're still intact," I said, making sure to inspect each rocket. We DEFINITELY did not want these things to blow up.

"Best day evaaaaa. Bring 'em back and I'll use 'em to make some fine ass damsels who can hijack that train for yas," Tina said.

"Not a problem. Krieg! We need to head back. We can't afford to miss that train," I yelled.

Krieg nodded and jumped down from the post to follow me back to Tina. I told him to wait outside in case any bandits showed up. We can't afford any mess-ups now. I went back to Tina with the rockets under my arms.

"Awesome! Just a secco! This gon' be good," Tina said, grabbing the missiles from my hands and hurrying in her workshop before closing the garage door. "I'm a little teapot bloody and cut. Here is my handle, here is my butt." Soon after she said that, there was a small explosion.

"The hell?" I questioned.

"Uh, whoops," Tina said, seemingly brushing the explosion off as something minor. How was she not even hurt? "Put a little bomb in the hot ass damsel. Blow stuff up and make people die." Then I heard a squishing noise. What the hell is possibly squishy when making bombs? I should know, because I know how to make bombs. Only stuff with a decent payload though. I didn't know how to make anything that can decimate a city block.

"Squishy. Squishy, squishy, squishy," Tina said, before pausing for a moment. "Oh, dammmn you looking good ladies. Let's get to work."

The garage door opened and somehow, someway, Tina managed to fuse a rocket to a stuffed animal. How she did it, I didn't want to know. Looks like she dropped the payload a bit so they could have accurate targeting. Genius. She definitely earned the right to be the best demolitions expert on this planet. And she was thirteen!

"That's right. Twin sisters man. Ohhhh... Take 'em. Take 'em, take 'em, take 'em, take 'em," Tina said quickly.

"No problem," I said, storing the bombs in my ECHO.

"Just put my damsels near the choo-choo train and _set em off! _Good plan, great plan!" Tina exclaimed.

"Very much. See ya," I said, running out of the door and gesturing for Krieg to follow me.

There were a number of bandits outside of where we needed to place the explosives.

"Mordecai, you there?" I asked.

"Loud and clear. What do you need?" Mordecai said.

"You got my location?" I asked.

"Yeah, and the psycho guy with you. He better be glad I like to wait before I react. Otherwise, your psycho friend would be covered in slag. Wouldn't do too much without a headshot, but still. It would be annoying to deal with," Mordecai explained.

"Yeah, I understand that. Thanks for not shooting him," I said.

"So you seemingly found a friendly psycho?" Mordecai asked.

"Guess so. Anyway, I need you to slag them. All of them within a narrow time radius. Krieg, get around them and raise hell with your axe on that side. I'll attack directly and draw their attention. Got it?" I asked.

"I WILL MAKE THEM KNOW THE PAIN OF NOTHINGNESS!" Krieg yelled.

_"You can count on me," _the voice inside his head validated.

"Consider it done," Mordecai said.

"Krieg, start sneaking. Mordecai, when I give the word, start shooting. Krieg, when you hear me and Mordecai shooting, start slicing," I said, making Krieg nod.

Krieg broke into a silent run over to the back position where I gestured for him to go. I stood a few meters away from the line of sight from the bandits.

"Now," I said, charging forward with my Emperor in hand and started blasting away with the burst fire disabled. I focused more on the left because Krieg was coming in from the far right. Mordecai started firing away at an even faster pace, keeping the same accuracy as he did as if he were firing slow. Just about every bandit I targeted was slagged, and they went down easy.

Then Krieg started slicing and dicing, mowing down every bandit he passed because they were all concerned with trying to take me down. With help, taking these guys down wasn't even a challenge. Well, they weren't a challenge before, but they were even easier now when you had a team like this.

I climbed the ladder and saw there were spikes to plant the missiles on. And that's where I placed them, Krieg following.

"Boosh! Just poke their bellies when you need me to set the 'splosives off. I got to do it remotely," Tina said.

I raised an eyebrow before poking their bellies, hearing a confirming double beep. I poked the other one and now I sat down and waited for the train to show up.

"Nothing to do but wait. Krieg, do you need a gun?" I asked.

_"Well, it would be nice other than swinging this axe all day. What do you got?" _Krieg asked. (From now on, the inside voice will be italicized, Krieg's loud voice will be in all caps and not italicized. Should be easy to remember. Plus it's better than saying 'the voice')

"Every gun the bandits had down there and I've got a Maliwan fire pistol, a Jakobs assault rifle, and Vladof pistol. Mostly cause that's stuff I don't want. We'll see if we get better gear for you down the road," I explained.

"I LIKE MY TREASURE HOW I LIKE MY BABY STEAKS! Rare..." Krieg said in a low voice.

_"For the record, I've never had a baby steak. And you saved my life. I don't care how the loot is divided. You can have it all. I've been pretty satisfied with my axe so far. But I would love it to take it long range every now and then," _Krieg said, picking up the weapons and storing it in his ECHO._ "For the record, I took this off a bandit, so it's not the best. Needs a lot of updates."_

"It's all good. It stores your shit and lets us contact each other. You only need updates is if you watch ECHOnet stuff," I said, when I heard a train horn. "Showtime."

"Oh snaps son! I hear the train coming!" Tina exclaimed.

"Yeah, me too. Let's hijack this thing," I said.

"Counting down! 10... 9..." Tina said as soon as the rockets launched off. "I got bored."

"Yeah, I got the feeling you did," I said.

One rocket destroyed the track and the other flew past the track. By the sound of the loud boom, it hit the train.

"Ahahaah! Burn all the babies!" Tina yelled as the train fell down the ice shelf. In meanwhile, Krieg was holding his head.

_"That voice... I know her..." _Krieg said wistfully.

"Tina?" I asked, making Krieg nod. "We'll find out later. Right now, we need to steal this Key. Then Jack will be out of options."

Krieg nodded and flexed his shoulders.

"I'M READY TO SHANK AND SMILE!" Krieg yelled.

_"Actually, he was pretty accurate on that one," _Krieg yelled. I shook my head. Looks like both sides could get along every once in a while.

"Well, that's one way to hijack a train. The Vault Key's still on that ice shelf. Better climb that wreckage to get there," Roland said.

"Noted. Krieg, lets go take that Key," I said, powerwalking up the ramp that was made.

"Climb the pipe to the train, or you'll go insane. Wut, wut," Tina rapped. "That's a rap song I wrote."

"Short, but awesome," I said, really meaning it. It was pretty damn catchy.

Me and Krieg went up the ramp and traveled through the train car that extended as far as it would go before we had to walk in snow and ice.

For whatever reason, there were health and ammo vendors up here as well. I gave Krieg a supply of money for ammo and to buy other loot that he might be interested in.

Once we began to head down the ramp, an explosion rang out on the far left side and loaders jumped onto the ground with an arm missing. With the Hornet, they went down without a problem. Krieg didn't even trouble himself trying to kill them. They only thing this was to me was a waste of ammo. It got a little more troublesome when the surveyors started showing up, but otherwise, it was particularly painless.

"This what Jack has to offer for guarding the Vault Key? Pathetic," I said, as I continued forward.

As I passed the Fast Travel station, Angel appeared.

"Don't worry. If Jack really wanted to guard the Key, it wouldn't be on a train. He'd have Wilhelm guarding it," Angel said, making me drop my jaw. This was a waste of time?!

"This was a waste of time then?! Then why the hell didn't you tell me?!" I yelled, my temper flaring up. Krieg looked at me worriedly. I waved a reassuring hand.

"There's something on the train that you're going to want. A new power core for Sanctuary," Angel told me. "The one you have isn't going to last much longer. But you're going have a problem on your hands." I blew a raspberry.

"Please. Anything Hyperion has had to offer so far hasn't been very effective. Krieg. We may not have the Vault Key, but at least we'll be able to protect Sanctuary a little longer," I explained.

_"No Key? Disappointing. But at least we'll be able to protect more lives. Lets steal it then. We gonna have company?" _Krieg asked.

"Probably. But nothing we can't handle," I said, going forward. Once I started nearing the train car, it started lifting on its own.

"Oh dear..." Angel said, as the train car threw itself to reveal something definitely big, definitely tough looking, and definitely Hyperion.

"Wilhelm," I whispered. Wait, shoudn't the Vault Key be here then?! I was hella confused.

Wilhelm definitely looked like no joke. He was quite like the Hyperion engineers, only with certain differences. He wore goggles that I recognized as high-tech computerized ones. Tie them to any type of database and they would be able to break all of the information about you down to the cell.

He also had a... no. _Hell _no. It was a missile AND grenade launcher. Those things can be installed with any type of grenade or rocket. They can only be fired separately, but they were still very deadly. He was 7 times the size of your traditional Hyperion engineer, and I doubted those metal fists were just for show.

"It's a trap! The Vault Key's not on that train! I'm sorry, but you can't handle Wilhelm, trust me!" Roland exclaimed, making feel slightly insulted as I had to dodge a jump from Wilhelm.

"Krieg, stay back! He's mine," I said with a serious tone.

_"You sure?" _Krieg asked.

"Oh, hell yeah. This is a fight I've been waiting for," I said, flexing my fingers.

"Kid, Wilhelm nearly killed us all in New Haven without taking a scratch. If things get bad, just run!" Lilith said, but only one thing registered my mind.

"Kid? _Kid?!_" I said, my voice slightly angry.

"Wait. That kinda came out wrong," Lilith said.

"No shit. After all of this, I'm a fucking kid. Says you. Come on you dirty bastard. Let's tango," I snarled in an animalistc way.

"No!" Roland yelled.

"Roland is wrong Vault Hunter - You can defeat Wilhelm. I promise you!" Angel exclaimed.

"At least some one has faith. Faith that won't be misplaced," I said, clenching my fists in a determined manner.

Wilhelm began to fire grenades from the launcher and Hyperion surveyors began to deploy as an aid for his shields. I blasted those away with the Hornet at an instant and ran around the arena before I began to focus my attention on Wilhelm. I didn't have enraged Siren mode anger, but I had a drive. A drive to prove them wrong.

_"You remind me of me in my prime sometimes kid. You've got the drive, the skill, the determination. You won't be brought down easy if bought down at all. You find something to fight for, you'll be unstoppable," _my dad told me. They were words that I was going to remember for the rest of my life. And I was going to take them to heart.

Wilhelm finally stopped firing grenades as more surveyors began to show up. I blasted those as quickly as I did the first time. Then there was a time where Wilhelm stopped for minute. Seemingly to catch his breath.

I took them time to pull out my Torgue assault rifle and Hornet pistol. It was time to take this bastard down. I then drilled him with a gunzerking spree of acid and explosions. Turns out, gunzerking is not so hard when you discover there's an ECHO app for digistruct reloading.

The rounds hit him hard. The acid was powerful and versatile enough to spread all across his armor and seep through it. He seemed to pay the acid no mind, but the explosive rounds were definitely hurting him. And as the acid was seeping through his armor, the explosives were hurting him more and more.

I made both guns disappear before jumping up to Wilhelm and landed on his chest which brought him down to the ground. He lifted an arm, but I used my sword to cut both of them off.

"Pathetic," I spat at him. "Is this what the mighty Wilhelm has to offer? And you drove them out of New Haven? Then they're nowhere as near as tough as I though they would be." I brought my sword down with all the force I had and decapitated him. Ended up cutting through the ground with the excessive force.

_"That was awfully quick," _Krieg said, but I paid him no mind as I contacted Roland.

"How the hell did he drive you out of New Haven? I've fought bandits that put up a better fight than that!" I yelled angrily.

"What?!" Roland and Lilith yelled.

"Wilhelm is dead and in pieces. Still think I can't kill him?!" I said fiercely.

"You killed Wilhelm?! Holy hell, Jack doesn't stand a chance," Roland said surprised.

I ignored him completely and picked up the power core. I examined it. I had to admit, it was a pretty damn good power core.

"No Vault Key, but at least I got a power core for the shields, which you should've mentioned were running low," I said testily.

"The Vault Key was more of a concern at that point," Roland said.

"More of a concern than the people living in that place? Not in my book," I said, putting the core up and heading to the Fast Travel station. "Understand that I won't back down in protecting the people in that place." Then I had to get a message from the big Hyperion jackass himself.

"Wow. Bravo. Cheers. Champagne. High five. Slow clap," Jack said, mockingly clapping over the ECHO. "You've got the damn power core, didn't ya?"

"You better believe it. You won't step foot in Sanctuary now," I told him mockingly.

"Whatever. You've been warned - The kid gloves are coming off. Tighten up the big boy pants, because things are going to get really, really bad for you Vault Hunters," Jack said. And as much as I wanted to throw it off as an empty threat, I couldn't fight the feeling of apprehension I had as I traveled back to Sanctuary.

* * *

"Wilhelm nearly defeated the other Vault Hunters a few years ago. You have proven yourself to be even stronger than them. Well done," Angel said, making me smile.

"Not a problem. Krieg, rest up a bit. We should be heading out as soon as I get this power core installed and information on our next objective," I said.

_"My pleasure. A break would be good," Krieg said, sitting on the floor. "Also, what happens if someone spots me and tries to shoot me?" _

"Knock them out. We'll explain when we have the chance," I said, before contacting Davis on the ECHO. "Davis, have I got good news for you. I got another power core.

"Another power core? This one is almost dead. Thanks for that. You really care about this city, don't you?" Davis said.

"Yes, I do. I'll be willing to protect it no matter what. Plus, I have even better news. This power core will likely keep Sanctuary's shields up forever maybe. Years at the very least least," I said excitedly.

"That's amazing news! Bring it here and we'll try it out," Davis said as I teleported in front of the stairs.

"Right here," I said as soon as I landed. I ended up scaring the hell out of Davis and Reiss, who immediately pointed their Vladof assault rifles at me. I then raised my hands in mock surrender. "Whoa! Password for the clubhouse?"

Reiss and Davis shook their heads at me.

"Yeah, don't shoot my ass," Reiss said as I came up the stairs.

"'Don't shoot my ass,'" I said, grinning widely.

"Entre vous! Where's the power core?" Davis asked.

"Power core?" Reiss asked as I held it up. "Whoa. Nice grab."

"I know right. I got more good news. I killed Wilhelm," I said, especially grinning on this bit of information. Even through the helmets, I can tell their jaws dropped.

"What?!" Reiss and Davis exclaimed.

"Yeah. He's currently missing arms and a head right now. Got to love that," I said.

"You sir... are the best thing that has happened to this war," Reiss said. "That bastard nearly killed us all in New Haven."

"Well, now he won't be bothering you any more. Now, let's get this core installed. As much as I hate Hyperion, this will prove to be invaluable," I said, taking out the old core.

"Now shove in that new core you found harder than a shiv in a Truxican's sternum. Sorry, old Crimson Lance saying," Davis said.

"Ah, it's fine. I won't hold it against you," I said, inserting the new core. "There we go."

"Ok, I think we're in bus-" Before Reiss could finish his sentence, there was a flash of energy in the air that was very like what happened when Angel messed with a machine. But sure enough, Angel's face was on the monitor.

"Angel, what the hell are you doing?" I asked. Then there was a statement that chilled me.

"You know, I think it's finally time I told you that little secret. Angel's working for me," Jack said.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"What is it?" Reiss asked in concern.

"We need to move. Now. That core was a trap," I said quickly.

"What?!" Davis and Reiss yelled.

"Lowering Sanctuary's shields, Jack. Executing Phase Shift," Angel said flatly.

"Fuck! Both of you! Let's move! To the city!" I roared, quickly taking charge.

"We're with you," Davis said. There was a hiss of energy, and when I looked up, there were no shields. And not long after, mortars began raining down on Sanctuary. And one came down just where Reiss and Davis were standing just a few moments ago.

"Godammit, we got no shields!" Reiss exclaimed.

"We need to get them out now! Roland! The shields are down! We need to get these people to safety!" I yelled on the ECHO.

"What the hell! How'd that happen?!" Roland exclaimed.

"The core was a trap. Fucking Angel..." I said bitterly as I was running to the city. What was almost as bad was that I trusted her. Not just as an ally, as a friend. And it might end up in the downfall of Sanctuary.

"Angel? You know Angel?!" Roland yelled.

"We don't have time! We need to get these people to safety. I have a plan, but you might not like it. I need Lilith's help, and a shit ton of Eridium. Has Scooter worked on getting Sanctuary into the air?" I said, as I ran through the center of town.

"He's got the same idea I do. Roland, get me all of the Eridium we have! Scooter, get Sanctuary in the air!" Lilith exclaimed.

"Pretty sure we can't do that without killing, I don't know, everyone in the city. It ain't ready to fly, Lily!" Scooter yelled.

"If you don't get this city in the air, we're all going to be dead anyway! Get it in the air!" I yelled harshly, before registering Davis and Reiss. "You two - I need you both to get everyone in the city to cover. Here-" I tossed them both shields. "You're going to need these. Good luck men."

"You too," Reiss and Davis said before going off. I went over to Scooter's position, who was working on one of the ignition primers.

"What do I need to do?" I asked quickly.

"Ok, um... If we cycle the ignition primers, it'll get us somewhere!" Scooter exclaimed.

I nodded and teleported to each primer back to back and hit the switches.

"Ok, we're primed! Everybody get ready!" Scooter yelled.

I noticed Lilith in the center of Sanctuary and she was focusing her energy on the pillar.

"Where the hell's Roland?! We need that Eridium!" I exclaimed.

"I don't know! I guess it's taking time!" Lilith yelled.

"Time we don't have!" I yelled before looking at the archives building as a mortar struck it. "Dammit!"

"Ah, you son of a-" Roland yelled. "I'm pinned! I can't get the Eridium to Lilith! Get to me quick!"

I instantly teleported and noticed Roland was pinned under a fallen structure.

"Don't worry about me! Grab as much Eridium as you can carry! Get it to Lilith!" Roland exclaimed.

I began picking up all of the pieces of Eridium I could see. One piece would cure all exhaustion and temporarily boost Siren powers. 5 pieces would surely be enough to teleport the entire city. Hopefully.

"You only survived our train ride together because I wanted you to. Five years ago, Roland and his buddies opened the Vault because I tricked them into doing it. Everything you guys have ever done, it's all been a part of my plan. I'm such a rock star," Jack gloated.

I paid him no mind as there was something more stressing on my mind than him gloating.

"You got the Eridium? I need it - get to the center of town! Get moving, or we're dead!" Lilith yelled.

"Yeah, I got that! You're not helping!" I yelled. I instantly teleported next to her and handed her all of the Eridium. "This was everything."

"It'll be enough. I've never used this much. You might want to hang onto something," Lilith said as I noticed the purple glow was getting brighter and brighter. Then, before I knew it, I was teleported out of Sanctuary. Just me.

"The fuck, Lilith?!" I yelled.

"Sorry man. That was an accident. I'll see you on the other side though, I promise. Hit it Scooter!" Lilith said.

Scooter took a deep breath before speaking.

"This is one of them moments. CATCH A RIDE!" Scooter yelled. Then, to my amazement, Sanctuary began to fly in the air. With the use of technology. Impressive bit of work.

"That's the best you got? A flying city? What could you chumps POSSIBLY have that makes you think you've got a chance against me?" Jack said.

"A Siren motherfucker," I snarled.

"Sup," Lilith said before Sanctuary disappeared.

"Hmm," Jack said in an unimpressed voice. I knew he wouldn't be very surprised. He did have the suspicion that Lilith was still alive. His suspicion was just confirmed.

I sunk my head in defeat. I had no options. Lord knows where Sanctuary ended up, Krieg couldn't talk and was in place where they would probably try to kill him on sight, and above all, I had no plan against Jack.

"Angel..." I remembered with an angry tone. I felt angry, upset, but above all, I felt fucking hurt.

"I fucking _trusted _you. I believed you wanted to help. I actually believed you were my friend. Well, guess what. Once I know where you are, Hell itself won't stop me from killing you," I said, my tone venomous. Jack was right about one thing. The kid gloves were coming off.

* * *

It was a long number of hours. I killed just about everyone I could find. Bullymongs, skags, the occasional bandit here and there. I dealt with the spy Lilith told me about at one point. No point in grabbing the ECHOs now. Hyperion knew Lilith was alive now.

There was also some guy with a strange gun that shot energy rather than bullets in Three Horns Valley. I killed him, which was a fair challenge with no Siren powers and took his gun. Very long clip, decent fire rate, long reload speed, and just under mediocre damage. Though it was worth keeping. It would probably be useful.

Then I stopped to think. There were still Hyperion trains running through the Tundra Express. They had to go somewhere. It likely meant Hyperion bases to rip up. It was the best idea I had for now, but it would have to do for now. But before I traveled, I saw a face that immediately made my temper flare up.

"I know you're angry with me right now, but..."

"Angry?! ANGRY?! ANGRY IS A FUCKING UNDERSTATEMENT! ONCE I FIND YOU, I WILL MAKE YOU CHOKE ON YOUR OWN LEGS BITCH!" I roared. I was lying. I had way more painful punishments in mind.

"I know what I did was wrong, but let me explain," Angel said, but I was having none of it.

"EXPLAIN?! THERE'S NOTHING TO EXPLAIN FOR WHAT YOU DID! THERE'S NOTHING TO JUSTIFY WHAT YOU DID! NOTHING! I TRUSTED YOU! I FUCKING TRUSTED YOU! AND YOU GO AND BETRAY MY TRUST?! IS THAT REALLY HOW YOU TREAT A FRIEND?! REALLY?! SOME FRIEND YOU TURNED OUT TO BE!" I yelled as the ground turned to ash underneath me. My rage was gradually increasing more and more as I talked to her. I felt like I was on the brink of exploding.

"Just head to the Fridge. It's the only way to get to the Highlands. Lilith might have phased your city there," Angel said. her tone sounding, dare I say, pleading. But I knew it was bullshit.

"No, I'm not going to listen to you. Listening to you cost lives of a few, and nearly cost the lives of more. No, you can fuck off and go to hell. If I do decide to go, it will be on my own terms. Until then, piss off you lying bitch," I snarled, disabling my ECHO. I clenched my fists and closed my eyes tightly while taking deep breaths. But it didn't really help. I had no fucking idea where Sanctuary was. This was beyond bad.

Then I began to track the trains. I had a job to do. To give Hyperion as much hell as possible. And I was going to do just that. I waited and teleported on top of trains that came by. It was time for these bastards to pay. It whatever way I could.

* * *

A/N: Fucking FINALLY! This chapter took forever, but it was worth it! My longest chapter ever! Over 8000 words! I love it! Anyway, after this exhausting bit of work, I'm done! Hope you all enjoyed!


	13. Chapter 13- Replotting Sanctuary

A/N: Well, my character definitely let it loose last time. If anger was a drug, my character would overdose thousands of times over. Anyway, after the destruction of many Hyperion camps and raiding a lot of Eridium mines(754 bars to be exact), my character finally decides to head to the Fridge after a contemplation. But not on foot. By teleportation. Note: You would probably somewhere around that amount of Eridium if you raided the Eridium mines. Probably more.

* * *

"Well, at least I'll have plenty of Eridium and scratches for the road," I told myself as I examined myself. After finding intel, raiding tons of Eridium and Hyperion army camps, and fighting for hours and hours. Days and days. Weeks and weeks. My clothes had definitely seen better days.

My jacket was ashes in a camp somewhere, my shirt was missing the sleeves, one of the shoulder parts of the shirt was missing and so was a section of the breast. Gratefully, my pants only had a few burned holes on one of the knees. But stealing hundreds of bars of Eridium would definitely hurt Jack's attempts to charge the Vault Key. It was 2 weeks in Pandoran days(note that a Pandora day last 90 hours) without rest and only finding food in cooked skags and rakk.

At one point I had no other intel to go after. Then I thought about Angel's tip about going to The Fridge.

_"NO! The last time you visited her nearly resulted in your demise and the demise of everyone you cared about!" _my mind argued.

_"Yeah, but she might be telling the truth this time. Plus we have nothing else to go on," _another part of my mind argued back.

_"You would listen to the bitch that nearly killed you, everyone in Sanctuary, and did in fact kill people?! What the hell is wrong with me?!" _

_"I don't know why, but... I feel like I have to listen to her. And it's the only lead we have." _

_"Why do you care so much that you would listen to her?" _

That question actually made me stop and thought about the question as a whole. Why _did _I care so much about this advice? It was the only I had so far, but why would I listen to the person who set me up and obviously didn't give a shit about me, my friends, and pretended to my friend. Maybe it's because I actually started to care about her beyond an ally to defeat a common enemy.

Either way, I was going to have to find Roland and the others somehow. And Angel claimed they would end up in The Highlands. But she didn't say where. The Highlands did have several sections. It could be anywhere, but sections of the Highlands were Hyperion controlled. The wildlife was too intense for Hyperion to control certain sections. If I teleported there, it would be in a place that would be safe from a Hyperion ambush that wouldn't cause some noise. It was worth a shot.

I absorbed an Eridium bar before attempting the trip. Something tells me it was far from close. Plus there was the fact that I barely had an inkling of where it was. Hopefully a ECHO map would be enough as I spun on my heel and teleported to the Highlands. I chose to teleport in a more remote area, called the Outwash. The fast travel was near a secluded section of the area. But I had my gun drawn just in case there was anything around me. There wasn't.

But all of a sudden, I felt the air around me ripple and leaves take flight as well as gravel. Then with a big flash purple light, I could see Sanctuary reappeared in the air. I laughed victoriously. Angel was telling the truth! But I made a note to immediately make contact with everyone at Sanctuary.

"Hello? Lilith?! Roland?! Krieg?! Anyone alive?! Anyone there?!" I asked almost desperately.

"Glad to see you still care," Lilith said flatly over the ECHO. I sighed in relief. They were alright.

"Thank God. Is everyone there alright?" I asked in concern.

"We're all fine. Like I said, glad to see you still care. Anyway, I'm awesome. I phased the city. No big deal," Lilith said cockily. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, glad to see your ego wasn't damaged any. I'll get there as quickly as I can. Oh, and if you see and psycho with a blue buzz axe, don't shoot him. He's cool," I told her.

"You took a psycho up to Sanctuary?! Are you crazy?!" Lilith asked me.

"Question: When has a psycho never attacked you once spotting you?" I asked Lilith.

"Well... never," she said.

"Krieg is the exception. Just trust me on this," I said reassuringly.

Lilith sighed and seemed to think about for a few minutes before responding.

"Ok, I'll trust you. After all, you did save our lives. Ugh, when I find Angel, I'm going to..." I cut her off before she finished it.

"Actually, that's another subject I need to talk to you about. We'll talk to it when I get back to Sanctuary," I told her.

"Alright. Please tell me you have ideas of how we're going to rip both her and Jack a new one," Lilith said eagerly.

"Um... we'll see," I said hesitantly before getting off the ECHO. Then I saw Angel back in front of my field of vision. Didn't know how this was going to turn out.

"You listened to me," Angel said evenly.

"Yeah, but I went straight to the Highlands. I didn't bother going through the Fridge," I told her.

"I'm glad. You'll be able to get to your friends a lot easier now," Angel said with an even tone before her tone got a lot more emotional. "Look, I'm extremely sorry for tricking you. It's just... I had no choice."

"Jack had you by the balls?" I asked. Even though I know it was a digital image, it seemed to morph into a shy look at my choice of wording.

"Sort of. I would be of no more help to you if I couldn't live through the attempt. And I know where Jack has the Vault Key and how you can stop him," Angel explained.

"How'd did you know we would even survive the attempt?" I asked.

"I've given helped Lilith gather enough Eridium for the escape attempt. I couldn't tell anyone though," Angel said.

"Why didn't you tell us? We could've helped you," I said with a sympathetic tone.

"It wouldn't work. The area would be crawling with loaders and they would execute me instantly. I'm only staying alive because I remain useful. It's not like my father cares," Angel said with a bitter tone. I registered this statement with a rigid shock.

"You don't mean... Please tell me you don't mean what I think you mean..." I asked desperately.

"Yes. I'm the daughter of Handsome Jack. Do I hate it? Definitely. Do I regret it? No, because it means I get to help you kill him. You're the only one who can. But the only way you can get to me and steal the Vault Key will require the help of your friends. And the help of some new ones. I'll explain more once you get to Sanctuary. There's a nearby Fast Travel station. Use that to get back to Sanctuary," Angel told me.

"Can do," I said, accessing the Fast Travel.

"Error. Location: Sanctuary, is not found," the computerized voice said.

"That is not good," I said.

"Oh no. The Phaseblast must've taken Sanctuary off the Fast Travel Network. Oh, um... ok. Head to the Eridium Extraction Plant. I think I know how to get you back to your friends," Angel said.

"I could just teleport there," I suggested.

"You could, but it would a constant waste of Eridium to get there and that leaves the other Raiders with no alternate options to get off Sanctuary. Especially when they help you to get the Vault Key," Angel explained. I had to admit. This made logical sense. I had a reason to do this.

"All right. I'll head on over to it. Mark it on my ECHO?" I asked.

"With pleasure. And I wish you the best of luck," Angel told me.

"You too," I said before spinning on my heel and teleporting to the destination. I had a habit of doing that. My own little spin on the trick. I was right next to the beacon and quickly grabbed it. I know I would have to eventually absorb an Eridium bar if I was teleporting at this rate. "Got it."

"Wow, that was fast. I shouldn't be surprised. Now, we can use that beacon to request an uncalibrated Fast Travel Unit from the moonbase. You'll need a quiet place to set up the beacon. Head to the town of Overlook. Thanks to Hyperion's mining operations, the people of Overlook suffer from the Skull Shivers. They won't disturb us," Angel said.

"Skull Shivers?" I asked.

"A degenerative brain disease that causes a jarring pain in all of your bones. And considering there are over 200 of them, it's a very horrible condition. Not to mention it's contagious. Another thing Jack has to answer for," Angel said, sounding furious.

_"She sounds kind of hot when she's angry,"_ I thought in my mind.

I smacked my head myself in the head for focusing on such a juvenile thing.

"I'll make sure he'll pay. For everyone he's hurt," I told her before teleporting to Overlook. I looked around the town. This looked like it barely existed.

"Damn. I didn't think Overlook would look like a ghost town," I told Angel.

"People stay in their homes since they got the Skull Shivers," Angel told me. But around the same time, Mordecai spoke up.

"You found Overlook, huh? Used to be a nice place until Hyperion took over. Now everyone's got the Skull Shivers thanks to Jack's mining operations. Poor bastards are too sick to leave their homes," Mordecai said with a sympathetic tone.

At first I thought Jack was just trying to take over, but no. His attempts of sealing his rule over Pandora was hurting the people in more ways than I thought. I would help these people if I could, but first the person causing it would need to die. Jack needed to die.

"You'll want to set up the beacon over there," Angel told me, setting the waypoint. "Once the moonbase processes our request, you should have a Fast Travel Station."

"Seems simple enough," I said, setting the beacon down.

"It's transmitting now. We've just got to wait a few minutes, and..."

"Angel, that's enough. You can stop pretending to help the bad guys now. Angel?" Jack asked.

"I swear if you hurt her..." I threatened. I know he would target her if she found out she was still helping me out.

"Don't worry about me. We don't have time before Jack realizes I'm not helping him anymore. Defend that beacon!" Angel exclaimed as loaders were being moonshot from the Hyperion space station.

"Been a while since I fought something," I said, getting on my guard. Something told me things were going to get harder.

"Now if you can't even handle these loaders, you're really going to disappoint me," Jack told me.

"As if I'm really concerned about disappointing you," I said, pulling out my new Jakobs sniper I got from a Hyperion camp in the Friendship Gulag. If we can get Crimson Raider presence there, we can prevent Hyperion's divide and conquer mission. It was a purple level gun, so that meant more power and fire rate while keeping the accuracy and traditional recoil that I had grown accustomed to during my time in using Jakobs snipers. I loved Dahl because of their lack of recoil, but Jakobs made up recoil by power and it's ability to drop most opponents with one shot. One _accurate _shot depending on the opponent.

As the loaders approached in a group of 3, I sniped the each of the loaders quickly in their red eyes, causing them to fall dead instantly.

Jack kept sending them down to the same location, making it all the more easier to wait for them to walk in my sights. By my ammo I had... 45 loaders I could kill before I ran out of ammo. But then they started landing on the left and right. I jumped down from near the beacon and sniped the two loaders on the right before swapping to the Hornet and focusing on the enemies on the left. Even as I did that, I could hear more loaders coming in on the right.

"Uncalibrated Fast Travel Station request received. Estimated processing time: 3 to 6 weeks," the Hyperion woman said.

_"Angel?!"_ I exclaimed worriedly as I shot up the loaders on the left.

"No! No! No! No! I'll move some data around, see if I can bump you up in the queue," Angel said, her voice sounding panicked. And that I didn't like.

"Angel, what the hell are you doing?!" Jack asked. This was definitely not what he expected by the sound of his voice.

I began moving to the right to deal with the numerous loaders and surveyors, which were giving them shields. I blasted away the surveyors while running to avoid being shot by the loaders. They nicked me a few times, but my shield was a new Tediore one, which had a excellent recharge rate and delay while maintaining fair capacity.

"I've increased your request's priority - T-Bone Junction can live without medical supplies for a another few months," Angel told me, making me hope it was a Hyperion area. But I couldn't brood on that now.

Then came the EXP loaders. They came in running like there was no tomorrow in waves. I instantly used my ECHO to call a bar of Eridium to my hand absorbed it quickly.

Powered by the bar's energy and eying the EXP loaders that came running, I threw Phasebomb after Phasebomb, back to back, hitting the blue cores and destroying them with every bomb I had. Only difference was, some of them were powered by various elements. Corrosion, fire, and electricity. I smiled to myself. My powers were starting to evolve more.

I managed to stop all 5 of the EXP loaders before GUN loaders and surveyors were back into the mix. I swapped to my Vladof assault rifle and used it's fast fire rate to sever the arms of the loaders that were approaching me. But then there were more deployments and I saw that there were more EXP loaders coming in fast.

"How many of these things are there?" I asked in disbelief.

I swapped to my Pitchfork and hit a surveyor's reflection shield. The shots went everywhere. Most of them hit the ground but one of them hit me and nearly dropped my shield. Another hit a loader in the eye, which was oddly convenient. But at least the surveyor's shield was dropped. And I quickly finished it by shooting it out of the air with another Pitchfork shot before swapping to my Emperor. From there with quick shooting and good aim, I was able to make quick work of the incoming loaders. And the beacon had barely taken any damage in the process.

"God... darnit. The lunar engineers denied our request. I'll see what I can do," Angel told me.

"Send in the constructors! I want that bastard dead now!" Jack yelled. It sounded like he was really starting to lose his patience. Looks like we were getting to him.

More and more loaders were coming in, of which I responded to by switching my Hornet and purple Jakobs pistol before going into my 'Gunslinger' mode. It was when I made the most accurate of shots by analyzing the entire area around me quickly and decisively.

I took a Wild West cowboy stance and focused on the multiple targets that were spread all over the area. Then I started adjusting my aim every half second, firing off a shot during that time period. And my clip was 17(Neutralizing Hornet, which is the pistol prefix for damage), and it picked off the loaders that had landed while I was concentrating. I just need time to perform this practiced skill.

Then I saw something that I had never seen before. There was a fat looking robot that had no legs and was hovering in the air. It was very much like the W4RD3N bot, but smaller and less dangerous looking. I decided to make quick work of it before it would be a problem as more loaders were landing. I tossed 2 accurate corrosion Phasebombs And it blew him up instantly. I fist pumped, but noticed that my head was getting slightly dizzy. I had to take it easy of the Siren powers.

Focusing on the other loaders, I pulled out my Jakobs sniper again and sniped them all easily. The loaders made me stay on my toes, which made them immensely harder than the bandits. And they came in numbers too. I liked this.

"I just shut off the moonbase's oxygen supply. I suspect the engineers will be launching your Fast Travel station very soon," Angel said a little darkly.

I smiled. Ok, now I _knew _she was on my side after a dark move like that. It made me feel a little warm inside.

"Goddammit, Angel! What are you doing?! Those are the bad guys!" Jack yelled.

"Look who's talking. You're killing people for fun. I kill to keep people safe," I retorted.

"Go to hell, bandit! I'm sending everything I have at you. EVERYTHING," Jack said with a rough tone. My smile widened. Oh, God he sounded _pissed._

Then I noticed HOT loaders and badasses started dropping to the arena. Well, he was certainly trying harder now. Too bad it wasn't going to be enough.

I tossed a Singularity grenade to pull the entire group into one spot before throwing a charged Phasebomb in the center and turning the loaders into nothing. I was forced into a kneel. The move was risky, but it took out a numerous amount of them. I absorbed another piece of Eridium and was taking fire while doing so. More loaders started showing up and I threw another singularity in the center and threw another Phasebomb. I only had one grenade left, but that was all of the loaders left. Some of the best ones he had decimated in seconds like it was nothing.

"If that's everything you got, you don't stand any type of chance," I said with a smirk.

"Impressive work as always. They're launching the Fast Travel Station now!" Angel said with a joyful tone. "Nothing gets results like a death threat."

"It's the only thing they seem to understand," I told her.

"It's almost here. Just wait a little longer, and..."

BOOM! With a loud crash, the Fast Travel Station landed in the center of town, destroying the statue that was there moments ago.

"The Fast Travel has landed! Give me a second to calibrate to Sanctuary's new position!" Angel exclaimed.

I approached the Fast Travel station and accessed it. A few seconds later, Sanctuary was a location once more.

"Fast Travel Station calibrated. Location: [Sanctuary] is now available for travel," the computerized voice said.

"Go, quickly! Use the Fast Travel station and get back to Sanctuary!" Angel exclaimed. As soon as the statement was said, I teleported.

* * *

"Back at last," I said as I reappeared at Sanctuary. I could feel the turbulence in the air as I walked, but other than that, it felt the same. I immediately began heading to the Headquarters. I knew I was in for a screaming match once I tried to defend Angel after the situation in with our shields.

Once I headed up, I noticed Krieg was sitting on top of one of the bunks.

_"You look nervous and happy. Which is a combination I'm not used to seeing," _he noted.

"Do I?" I asked.

_"Yeah, it's weird. What happened? How'd you get back?" Krieg asked. _

"Angel helped me get back," I told him.

_"Really? You were practically screaming bloody murder for her hours ago," _Krieg told me. Oh. He heard me when I shouted my head. That's embarrassing.

"A strange turn of events. At first I thought she was a traitor, but she shut off the oxygen supply on the Hyperion moonbase to help me get back," I said. "That's got of be one of the nicest things someone has done for me. In a bloody murder sort of way."

_"So it seems. But I'm glad you're alright. And no one shot at me when they found me. I assume that's your doing?" _Krieg asked me.

"You'd be right. Lucky for you. But I've got some things to explain to them, and it'll likely turn into us having a screaming match about whether to trust Angel," I said sighing. "Wish me luck so we can make some progress." Then I walked over to the where Roland and Lilith were and I'm amazed they didn't hear our conversation.

"The city may be safe now, but what happens if Hyperion launches another barrage? We've got no shield," Roland told Lilith.

"Ah, good point. Let me get on the ECHO," Lilith said, hitting a button on the main panel. "Listen up Hyperion - If you've got any bright ideas to blast Sanctuary out of the sky, just remember. I can phase the city anywhere I want at the drop of a hat. But if you want to waste a few more billion dollars launching mortars at us be my guest."

"Well done. Was, uh... any of that true?" Roland asked.

"What? Hell no. It's a miracle I didn't phase us into a mountain," Lilith said.

"I'm glad you didn't," I said evenly.

"Oh, good. You're not dead," Roland said.

"That's his way of saying, 'Wow, you're a badass, I'm glad you're ok.' This is my way of saying it," Lilith said, coming up to me and giving me a hug. I was taken aback.

"Any reason why you're so emotional?" I asked.

"From where we left off and the kid remark. I didn't realize it was affecting you much. The reason I really called you that is because you haven't ever been in a war. It's pretty rough. But in a few days, you've accomplished more than we have in a few years," Lilith explained, releasing me from her grasp.

"She has a point. You are the best turning point we've had in this war. You killed Wilhelm, wiped out the Rippers and Bloodshots single handedly. And you're plenty young," Roland explained.

"Young? I may look young, but I'm older than I look. I'm thirty-one," I clarified.

"Thirty-one? You look like you're in your early 20's," Lilith said, looking surprised.

"I don't get stressed out and I eat right. Maintains a healthy appearance. Now, do we have a plan?" I asked. Lilith and Roland rubbed their necks in embarrassment.

"I was afraid of that," I said solemnly.

"The initial idea is that we can steal the Vault Key, but we've got no idea where he's got it stashed," Roland said before Angel interrupted.

"I can help you with that," she said.

"You?! Dammit, we told you never to contact us again!" Roland yelled.

"Look Roland..." I started.

"Will you please just hear me out?" Angel pleaded.

"Sure, let's listen to the crazy computer who just tried to kill us," Lilith said sarcastically.

"Lilith..." I started, but Angel interrupted me.

"No, Robert. I'll explain," Angel assured me.

"Wait, you're in this with her too?" Lilith accused me.

"She can help us find the Vault Key. And she's our only lead to doing so," I reasoned with her.

"Why are you defending her?" Roland asked me.

"I'm not defending her. I'm just stating the facts. Do you have the foggiest idea where we're going to find the Vault Key?" I asked.

"Well... no," Roland admitted.

"Exactly," I said in triumph.

"It's with me. I'm charging the Vault Key," Angel said.

"Wait, you?!" I exclaimed.

"Forced to by Jack. They Key naturally charges itself every 200 years. Jack is patient, but he's not that patient - he's been using my power to forcibly charge the Key with Eridium. If you find me, you find the Vault Key," Angel explained.

"Just where are you?" I asked.

"Housed in my AI control core atop Thousand Cuts. It's protected by three impassible security hurdles," Angel said.

"I can just supercharge myself with Eridium and teleport to you," I suggested.

"No. There's a defense bunker outfitted with something Jack calls his 'Siren Suppressors.' Not only does it prevent unauthorized Siren abilities, but it will nearly cripple you. The loaders would make easy work of you no matter how hard you fought. No offense to you or your skill," Angel explained.

"Dammit. Worth a try. How about this bunker? I could head over there," I suggested.

"You could, but even you would have trouble with the Bunker. It's 10 times tougher than Wilhelm was. You would need aid in numbers. Roland knows what do," Angel said.

Roland seemed resigned about the situation, but nodded his confirmation.

"Also, you need to be wary of another security hurdle that will keep Siren Suppression active. A door that will only open for Handsome Jack," Angel told me, making my eyes widen with shock. "I already have a solution to that, but first Roland needs complete his part. And you also might need another piece just in case things backfire. A software upgrade for Claptrap," Angel said, making me raise my eyebrows in disbelief.

"Wait, Claptrap made it here?" I asked, surprised. Was he not that far behind me and I didn't know it?

"Yes. He actually knew a quicker way to Sanctuary seemingly. He'll need a software upgrade, which Mordecai should be able to get. This will be your only opportunity to stop Jack and steal the Vault Key. I'm out of time, do what you will, but know this: Whatever what happens, do not allow Lilith into my chambers," Angel explained before signing off.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Lilith asked.

"If this was a trap, it would sound a little more possible," Roland said.

"If we're taking that bitch down, I'm coming. Trap or not," Lilith said, making me frown. I'm pretty sure Angel had her reasons.

"I'm pretty sure she wouldn't tell you to stay behind without reason," I told her.

"Please. You just want to fuck her," Lilith said, rolling her eyes.

It took a lot of self-control not to turn bright red at that declaration.

"And right now, you're being childish. Note this: You can always teleport in once we've got everything disabled. _But _let me and Roland assess the situation first before you end up getting yourself into a bad situation," I said calmly.

Lilith looked at me critically for a few seconds before nodding.

"Now, I need you to head to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve for the first piece of the puzzle we need," Roland told me.

"I'm going to head out as soon as possible," I said, walking off. "Krieg, you ready?"

"I'M READY TO SHANK AND SMILE!" Krieg yelled.

"Accurate yet again. Let's go," I said.

"Wait, Robert. Could I speak to you privately in the back for a minute?" Lilith asked me.

I looked at her strangely for a second before nodding. We walked to where the back room was before and stood a few feet from the edge.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Are you sure you're thinking straight? I mean, Angel did set us up," Lilith said.

"Yeah, she did, but regardless of her motives in the current situation, she shut off the oxygen on the Hyperion moonbase to help me get back here when they wouldn't launch the Fast Travel Station," I told her.

"Really?" Lilith asked surprised.

"Yeah. Look, I don't know what to make of this woman. She intrigues me more than anyone I've ever talked to. It's like a shroud of mystery surrounds her wherever she goes. But overall, there's been some kind of... understanding. It's like she knows where I've been, and I know where she's been. Why I do what I do, and why she does what she does," I explained.

"You've really thought about this," Lilith said evenly.

"It's a quick observation I made. But... just trust me on this one," I asked Lilith.

"I will. Just be careful. I don't want to see you or anyone else get hurt because of her," Lilith told me gently. I nodded.

"I assure you this. We're gonna kill this son of a bitch or die trying," I said, walking off.

* * *

A/N: This seemed longer than I thought it was going to be. But I got it done and it was a bit of fun writing. I would love it if Gearbox added a feature where you could raid Hyperion Eridium camps and get a number of Eridium. It would be fun. But I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Note: I was trying to find ways to differently incorporate the story. But it's pretty much a speed run for story. The only other side missions I will consider doing before the DLCs will be Brick's Lynchwood missions, not counting the bank robbery. Possibly Claptrap's birthday. I'll flip a coin on it.


	14. Chapter 14- Wildlife Saviors

A/N: Last chapter was a quicker turn of events for getting back to Sanctuary. Mainly because I teleported everywhere pretty much. But not this time. Angel informs my character that extreme use of Eridium and his Siren abilities could possibly give him the Starlight disease. A sickness that could prove to be deadly. Thanks to dougaude for letting me use the idea. I couldn't think of a better idea for the name. P.S: I've decided to change Zer0's appearing location. Instead he'll appear during Hammerlock's Hunt, looking for creatures that could possibly challenge him.

* * *

Me and Krieg teleported to the Highlands using the Fast Travel Station.

"We should be at the Preserve in a few minutes. Way faster if I teleport there," I told Krieg.

_"Yeah. My ECHO map shows it's not far," _Krieg said.

"Robert, can I give you some info?" Angel said, appearing on my ECHO.

"Shoot," I said.

"If I were you, I'd take it easier on the Siren powers and Eridium," Angel told me. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"Why is that? It's getting everything done quickly. I've also learned to embrace my Siren side. I feel who I've achieved who I really am," I said proudly.

"Yeah, but Eridium is like the Siren drug. Using your powers excessively already causes lightheadedness and fatigue. Coupled with the excessive absorption of Eridium is like overdosing on a drug. For a minute you feel the elation and power that Eridium brings, but using it a lot ends up with horrible effects on your body. Same symptoms as before, but it extreme cases like yours, you could end up with the Starlight disease," Angel said in a worried tone.

"Starlight disease?" I asked.

"A disease that happens with excessive consumption of Eridium. The Pandoran Vault wasn't the first one to be opened and there were Eridium spills on other planets. Sirens got addicted to the mineral and ended up catching the Starlight disease, of which there's a very obscure cure that even I don't know of. I... just take it easy," Angel explained. The concerned tone in her voice made me take it seriously. Dead serious.

"For how long?" I asked.

"Few hours at the least. And take it easy with your Siren powers. Only use them in emergencies rather than to dispatch your opponents quickly," Angel explained.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the warning," I told her.

"Of course. I don't want anything to happen to you. And keep an eye for Lilith from doing the same. I'm afraid hard times might drive her to do the same," Angel told me.

"No problem. And I appreciate your concern. I'll inform her," I promised.

"Good. Now you're very close to the Preserve. Just head up the path over there, and you'll be debriefed by Roland on what you need from Mordecai," Angel said.

"Gotcha," I said, getting a Bandit Technical with Krieg in the gunner seat. The psycho's aim was excellent in using the explosive barrels to dispatch stalkers we came across.

_"Who were you talking to?" _Krieg asked me.

"Angel. She told that absorbing too much Eridium in a small time zone could end up with me catching the Starlight disease," I told him.

_"I've heard about that. It's a deadly disease that's claimed the life of many Sirens. I just didn't know it was caused by Eridium," _Krieg explained.

"Well, it apparently is. So, I'm going to try to take it easy on the Siren powers as well. Which means we'll have to get through the Preserve on foot," I told him.

_"I'm fine with that. I'm used to it," _Krieg said with a shrug. He didn't really use his real voice anymore. I was right that there was some kind of control on the outside.

Then we reached a area with a narrow walkway that lead to a cave. And then we were at the Preserve. Barely took 5 minutes.

The Preserve was more of a confined version of the Highlands with a bunch of Hyperion tech. I could tell that from what little sight I had of it.

"Roland, now what?" I asked.

"Mordecai has a software upgrade for Claptrap to access Hyperion networks. It may come in handy in case our raid for Control Core Angel doesn't succeed," Roland told me.

"Does that mean I'll have to look after Claptrap again? Oy," I said, remembering my time in the Southern Shelf.

"You'll have to deal if this plan doesn't work, so hope it does. But Mordecai is camped in the Preserve. He should have what you need. Think he needs your help with something," Roland told me.

"No problem," I said, heading toward the marker he set for me. The booms I was hearing had to be Mordecai's sniper. I ignored most of the stalkers that were trying and failing to hit me with their stingers.

Krieg had no issues cutting down the stalkers he saw while they were visible. But he was doing it without slowing down his running. I threw a Longbow Tesla grenade behind us and it easily killed the stalkers who were dumb enough to try and follow us through. I had bought the 10 grenade counter for my ECHO from Earl, so I could carry a lot more grenades. I did the same for pistol, shotgun, SMG, sniper, and assault rifle. But it was all good. I still had over 100 Eridium. Which would be enough for as long as this campaign would last.

Me and Krieg walked up the area Mordecai was at and saw him sniping.

"Hey. Mordecai," I said, walking up to him.

"Hey. I heard about Sanctuary? You both alright?" Mordecai asked us in concern. Krieg nodded his confirmation.

"We got out unhurt. We have a plan to take down Jack and steal the Vault Key, but we need that upgrade for Claptrap in case it goes awry," I told him.

"Yeah, Roland already ECHO'd ahead. All my data is on a chip in Bloodwing's collar, including your Claptrap upgrade. But some Hyperion jackasses nabbed her and took her into the Preserve. I'm glad you're here. I've been scouting the place for the last half hour, and it looks like at least a two-man job. If you can get inside through the shipyard, I can give you support and lead you to Bloodwing. You get my bird, you get your Claptrap upgrade," Mordecai explained.

"We'll get her back to you," I promised him.

"Thank you. I'll provide support, just like in Tundra Express," Mordecai told me, getting into a sniping position.

I jumped from the point Mordecai was aiming at and broke into a run toward the largely contained area with Krieg not far behind.

"Jack makes me laugh," Mordecai suddenly said.

"How's that?" I asked.

"He kidnapped Bloodwing so I'd start pissing my pants, and start making threats that 'if anything happens to my bird, I'll blah, blah, blah,' but Blood and I have been through a lot. I know my girl can handle herself," Mordecai said.

"I know she can too. But to be honest, I don't like her chances in that place. I'm going to get there as quickly as I can," I said, rushing up and spotting 2 loaders on a walkway.

Krieg broke into a charge while I pulled out my Hornet. The loaders attempted to shoot Krieg with the Jakobs assault rifles. Krieg got hit with one of the bullets but ignored it as he chopped the loader in half. While Krieg was in a small duck from slicing the loader, I shot burst fire over Krieg and into the loader's eye.

"Easy," I said, continuing forward. Krieg jumped down and followed me to the door. I pressed the button, but got a denied beeping sound.

"Unauthorized access detected. Releasing loaders," the computerized voice said.

"Fuck," I said, turning around to face the doors the loaders were coming out of.

"Ah, crap. They chucking loaders at you? Damn - give me a second to think of something," Mordecai said.

"Let's try to make it quick. Time is ticking," I said, shooting one of the loaders in the eye from my vantage point while Krieg tossed his axe in the other loader's eye. I could've teleported past it, but I didn't want to risk it. Not yet.

"Ok, I got an idea. If you cripple some of those loaders, but don't kill them, they'll open the door to send reinforcements," Mordecai told me.

"Then I won't need this," I said, putting my Hornet up and replacing it with my Poly-Kryten blade. I then turned to face Krieg as more loaders arrived.

"Ready?" I asked.

_"Of course," _Krieg said, charging forward with me right behind him.

I then quickly ran up to a loader, dodged its gunfire, and sliced an arm of it.

"You wounded that one. Now move on to another loader," Mordecai said.

Krieg threw his axe and cut off the arm of another loader before ducking gunfire from another loader shooting at him and slicing off the legs. I was impressed with the skill that Krieg showed rather than random slashing that most psychos did.

"Loaders damaged. Deploying reinforcements," the computer said.

The door opened and engineers came out shooting along with surveyors flying above the gate.

"Groovy. The door's open. Now, get inside and find Bloodwing," Mordecai said.

"No problem. I'll have to deal with... *grunts* Damned surveyors," I said, taking a hit from a ball of lightning. My shield nearly went on empty because of it.

"Robert, there's something you need to take care of before you continue further," Angel told me.

"Shoot," I said, shooting a surveyor out of the air with my Jakobs shotgun. Those weeks I spent destroying Hyperion bases pretty much improved all of my traditional gear.

"There's a Siren here. Jack managed to capture as soon as she got on a shuttle to this planet because he had me lure her here. She's in the experimental ward. Get her out of there," Angel urged.

"I will. Krieg? Change of plans. There's a Siren in here and we need to get her out," I told him.

_"Another Siren? I thought I would never meet one in my life, and I'm going to meet three," _Krieg said surprised.

"Never say never bud," I told him, blasting another surveyor out of the sky. "Now come on. One second in this place is bad for any Siren."

I rushed to destroy the Hyperion bots as fast as I could in order to get to the Siren Angel marked on my map. She was past the loading area and in the building. Something told me that I also was going to find something beyond important in this place.

Me and Krieg began to move past the loading bay and deeper to where the experiments were going on.

"Welcome to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. Jack said he built this place to promote science and discovery and whatever the hell, but it's BS. They're just using slag to experiment on every creature they can find. You got to get Bloodwing out of there," Mordecai told me.

"I know, I know. If I wasn't under the risk of disease, I'd just teleport there," I said, going psycho and just using my blade. I made sure to avoid stabbing the skags' mouths. I stuck to slicing them in half and such so I wouldn't dissolve my blade.

"Oh, hey. You're in the Preserve. I was going to do this whole thing where I'd lure you in here and kill you, but you just - you just kinda showed up. Thanks for saving me the trouble kiddo," Jack said happily.

"Yeah. And you failed to kill me just a few hours ago. Good luck with that," I said flatly as I continued.

I skipped past most of the stalkers that were in the next wildlife area while slicing on the way, Krieg mimicking my movements.

We reached the holding cells, and the door we need to get into was locked with no obvious access panel.

"Angel?" I asked.

"No problem," Angel said, the door opening almost instantly.

Me and Krieg headed inside with only 2 active shield cells. Each of them held 2 bound and unconscious women. The Siren was easily distinguishable among each of them. The second woman looked complete unharmed though. Strange.

"My God, IVANA!" I heard a strained voice yell. Only, Krieg said that in his normal voice. Out loud. I looked at him surprised.

"You know her?" I asked.

"Not the Siren, but the other woman. That's my wife. I thought she died," Krieg said, his voice heavy.

"Damn..." I said, before paying attention to the Siren. She had definitely seen better days. A beautiful face was littered with purple veins and even her unconscious state looked like she was being tortured.

"She's hooked up the Eridium pumps. You need to sever the connection before her body becomes reliant on it to survive. There's a Hyperion commander in the next room, asleep. You'll need his eyeball and fingerprint scans to open the door," Angel explained.

"Not a problem," I said before bursting into the other room and grabbing the Hyperion commander by the throat and throwing him in the room. As soon as Krieg spotted him, he started forward, but I had to stand in his way.

"We need him alive for now to free him. But I promise that you'll get to do the honors," I said coldly while not taking my eyes off him. He looked up at us, and I could tell he was trying to disguise his obvious fear with cold indifference.

"Bandit scum," he said coldly.

"Heard it before. Don't give a shit about what you say," I said, lowering my sword into the knife edition before looking at him with a wide smile. "Now you may feel a little pinch..." To which my response to ease the blade in the skin on the right of his left eye.

He yelled in pain and I twisted the blade to get better penetration. I curved the blade and dug beyond his eyeball, directly opposite from his retinas before pulling the blade up. Not cutting thoroughly, which made the eye hard to get. I didn't want it to get out so easily. It was more painful for him that way.

The Hyperion commander somehow found the energy to wrap a hand on my neck. I simply laughed at his attempt to choke me and I continued to try to pull out his eye, which was stuck on a very firm strand.

Then after about 20 seconds of pushing, the eyeball flew out of his eye like a rocket. I caught it before it got too far and held it in front of his face mockingly.

"How about that? You won't need a mirror anymore," I said cruelly before I held the eyeball up to the scanner.

"Eye recognition accepted. Fingerprint scan needed," the computer voice said.

"Not a problem," Krieg said, quickly severing the commander's arm in the blink of an eye. The man screamed in pain as the blood from his stump was gushing all over the place. I placed an ignited hand over the wound and he screamed as I cauterized it.

"I don't want you to bleed out. I want him to kill you. Krieg?" I said, backing up to give Krieg free reign in killing the commander. He then proceeded to beat the commander to a pulp. Bones were broken, limbs were severed, and the entire room was filled with his screams. But I watched every bit of it, glad that he was dead.

After he finished up, taking about 10 minutes to do so, he instantly went over to the panel with the Hyperion commander's hand and the computer scanned his fingerprints before the reflector shields dropped. Krieg rushed to his wife while I rushed to the Siren.

Grimacing as I did it, I pulled the Eridium tubes out of her back, which was accompanied with a wet, ripping noise. I injected her arm with several healing hypos, and the holes healed. My heart cried out for the unconscious Siren I was cradling in my arms. No one deserved. Definitely people who hadn't done anything wrong.

I felt a surge of energy, filling my bones with another foreign energy before the Siren opened her eyes and look at me with a vulnerable look. Couldn't blame her. Ever with the hypo care now, I'm sure she still felt the previous torture.

"Wha-" she said.

"Easy now. You're safe," I said soothingly as I tried to help her stand up. "Krieg, we need to get these two to Sanctuary." I could hear no response from the psycho.

"Krieg!" I yelled. Still no response. I held the Siren up as I went over to the next cell and saw that he was cradling his unconscious wife in his arms while stroking her face. I thought I would never see the psycho so tender.

"I'd never thought I'd remember. I'd never thought I'd see her again," he said, not taking his eyes off his wife's face.

"Well, you did. But right now, they need help that we can't give to them. We need to get them to Sanctuary," I told him, carrying the Siren in a bridal position for way easier movement. "What's your name?"

"M-M-Maya," she breathed out.

"Maya, we're here to help. Hyperion will never touch you again. Krieg, if you want to ensure Ivana never comes back to this place, we need to go. Now!" I stressed.

"You're right," Krieg said, picking his wife up. "Ready?"

"Of course," I said, breaking into a run back to the Fast Travel. "Mordecai, we're going to need some cover. Please tell me you have a killing sniper."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"We found a Siren and Krieg's wife in some holding cells. We need to get them back to Sanctuary, and fast," I told him.

"Yeah, ok. You'll have to get outside of the Preserve first before I can give you cover," Mordecai told us.

"Thanks. And I know we came her to get Bloodwing, but..."

"It's ok. I understand. More lives are at stake here. Get here as quick as you can, and I can cover you," Mordecai said.

"Thanks," I said, climbing up the ledge and running as fast as I could while making sure Maya didn't fall out of my arms. Luckily, I knew the Fast Travel took multiple people at once, so that made this easier.

We teleported back to Sanctuary and I instantly got on the ECHO.

"Roland, is there a medical bay in Sanctuary?" I asked him quickly.

"There's Zed, our healer on one of the far sides. Why? Did someone get hurt?" Roland asked.

"Two prisoners in the Preserve. They should be alright, but they need rest," I told him.

"Are they safe?" Roland asked.

"Yeah. They are. Thanks for the tip," I said, walking toward the side of the city I haven't discovered to get to Zed's.

"You're the Vault Hunter that survived Handsome Jack, huh? Should've known you'd end up in here sooner or later," Zed said.

"Not me. Two prisoners that we found in the Preserve. They're not hurt too badly. They just need rest in a place that's not a stone cold floor," I told him.

"Alright. I'll take as good care of them as I can," Zed promised.

"You better," Krieg said.

"Set one of them on the bed over there," Zed said, pointing at a medical bed in the corner.

I walked over and gently placed Maya on the bed. She had a firm grip on my arm. I gently took it off.

"Will you be back?" Maya asked me.

"Yes I will. But right now I have a job to do. Just rest," I told her, moving hair out of her face. I don't whether I'm trying to act like a Casanova or just being kind.

Krieg set his wife on a bed with blood stains stuck in it. It was stained, but it looked clean. He stroked her cheek softly before facing me.

"We've got a job to do," he said emotionlessly. A dark look took my face.

"Yes. We do," I said, walking out.

* * *

A/N: I see no point in recollecting a pointless trip back to the Preserve, so the next chapter will be when we've made it to Bloodwing. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.


	15. Chapter 15- Bloodwing's Last Flight

A/N: Last time we covered the arrival of Maya and Krieg's wife. Information on their stories will be given another chapter, but not now. Now we have to try to recover the Hyperion chip(which is a success) and save Bloodwing(failure). Enjoy!

* * *

I jumped at an engineer and impaled him in the gut before painfully shoving the blade harder and harder into his sternum before flinging him off like old trash.

"If I know Bloodwing, they're going to have the biggest badass they have guarding her. Shouldn't be a problem for you, but just a heads up," Mordecai warned me.

"I'll take it under consideration," I said as I beheaded a Hyperion engineer that came out of one of the doors. Me and Krieg were approaching the Observation Wing, which meant Bloodwing was close. It shouldn't be too much of an issue to defeat whatever Hyperion has to offer. They haven't offered very much so far. Wilhelm was an absolute disappointment. I thought I was going to meet a challenge when I met him. That was hardly the case.

Me and Krieg got onto the elevator and began taking the trip down. I jumped off the elevator before it got all the way down because I was too impatient, but there was no sign of Bloodwing anywhere.

"Where's Bloodwing Jack?!" I asked furiously.

"Want Bloodwing back, huh? Shame. I've been doing some really interesting Eridium experiments with her. Hate to see her go, but heck with it," Jack said as a hatch opened on the ground to reveal... a big-ass Bloodwing covered in slag. "She's all yours."

My eyes widened at the intimidating size of her.

"Bloodwing isn't guarded by a big badass. She _is _the big badass," I told Mordecai.

"This won't be good," Krieg said worriedly.

"Oh my God..." Mordecai said in a subdued shock.

"Just give it up kiddos! Bloodwing's got all the elements at her disposal! Fire! Electricity! Corrosion! Slag! And... ah damn, I forgot the last one. What the hell was that again?" Jack muttered.

"This is not good," I said, watching Bloodwing circle the sky.

"Goddammit! Just... just weaken her, and I'll hit her with a tranq!" Mordecai exclaimed.

"Good God - I'm sorry Robert, but you've got to beat Bloodwing down. Do what you can to save her, but if you can't..." Roland said before hesitating. "...she's got what we need to get into Control Core Angel and grab the Vault Key. That's what matters here."

"We'll do what we can. Krieg, try not to severely damage Bloodwing," I told him.

"I'll do my best. But we need that microchip. And Bloodwing might not give us much of a choice," Krieg rationally explained. I hated that he was right. At least everyone else could hear Krieg ever since seeing his wife suddenly knocked all the crazy out of him. Whatever that triggered, it was effective.

"Yeah, I know. But let's try and do that without killing Bloodwing. Not as easy," I said, watching Bloodwing land.

"Fire!" Jack exclaimed. Bloodwing did a spin and her skin was suddenly made of fire. It was impressive, which I had to chastise myself for. This was also something Jack did, which did my best not to compliment.

"Fire... what else is there?" Jack wondered aloud.

"Holy fuck," Krieg said.

"You said it," I said, pulling out my Emperor and started firing at Bloodwing. The bullets seemed to barely do anything to her skin. And the Emperor was an excellent bandit killer.

"Bloodwing is tough. I'm not putting a scratch on her," I said, as I kept firing at Bloodwing.

"Neither am I. And this is a _Jakobs_ weapon," Krieg said, shooting at Bloodwing with a Jakobs assault rifle. Bloodwing then started hovering over us in a threatening way.

"Holy God! Is she breathing FIRE?!" Mordecai yelled.

Sure enough, Bloodwing was breathing fire down on our heads. Krieg was out of range while I was instantly lit on fire. At least my shield protected me long enough to move out of the way. But Bloodwing began to follow me around while I was running out of the way of her fire.

Krieg jumped in the air and planted his axe in Bloodwing's shoulder, who screeched from the pain and stopped breathing fire.

"This is gonna be fine... just got to tranq Bloodwing and get her back to Sanctuary, and, I dunno, maybe Zed can patch her up!" Mordecai exclaimed. It seemed like he was trying to convince himself.

Bloodwing shook Krieg and his axe off her while I tossed my grenade without a grenade mod attached and blew the grenade in her face. She was taken down to the ground instantly, barely standing on her talons.

"Bloodwing, I don't want to hurt you! Stop fighting!" I exclaimed, letting my guard down. This was a bad idea.

She screeched before batting me into Krieg with a wing before taking to the center of the platform again.

"Electricity!" Jack exclaimed, making Bloodwing take the form of electricity. "Electricity... slag, fire, corrosion's coming up next... what am I forgetting?"

"Robert! Company!" Krieg yelled.

I looked to see some skags had decided to join the party.

"Deal with them. I'll cover you!" I exclaimed, switch to my fire sniper and hitting Bloodwing in the head, throwing her off course of her tackle. A Jakobs was more likely to kill her, which isn't what I wanted.

"You're gonna regret ever dragging Bloodwing into this, Jack! You're going to watch her tear your throat out!" Mordecai threatened.

"Heh. That's cute," Jack said idly.

Krieg quickly dealt with the skags and started firing at Bloodwing again. Until she started flying high enough in the air to be out of his range.

"Get out of the way! She's gonna divebomb!" Mordecai warned as she descended.

"Fuck!" I said, beginning to run out of the way of the area. Krieg couldn't react quite as fast and got hit with some of the shockwave, dropping his shield and injuring him a bit.

I swapped to my Jakobs pistol and rolled 2 of my MIRV grenades under her when she landed and shot them, making numerous explosions surround her. She definitely felt that one because screeched loud enough to render someone deaf. She was also moving gradually more slower and blast marks were showing her wings. And she was still fighting. As much as it saddened me, I think we would have to kill her.

"Goddammit, Jack! You better pray Bloodwing makes it out of this!" Mordecai exclaimed.

Me and Krieg stopped firing to see if Bloodwing was injured enough to stop fighting. But instead, she moved to the center again.

"Corrosion!" Jack said, imbuing Bloodwing with the element. "Corrosion... yeah, I remember that one. Come on, what's left?" I knew what it was, but I wasn't going to tell him that. But I had more pressing problems.

"I _hate _corrosion," I said, while switching to my Jakobs shotgun. (Corrosion tears through health and shields like it's nothing when it's on you)

Krieg began to toss axes at Bloodwing, who was only able to dodge a few because her movement was so limited. Whenever Jack has her swap elements, she gets healed a bit, but she looked exhausted. She shouldn't last much longer.

"She's bringing out her claws! Watch it!" Mordecai yelled as Bloodwing dove straight for Krieg.

"Oh, no you don't," I said, pulling out 2 Jakobs pistols and going into Gunslinger mode. A second before Bloodwing came near Krieg, I emptied the revolver clips into Bloodwing's neck with a lightning fast trigger finger.

She lost momentum and fell to the ground next to Krieg. He moved back before performing a powerful shoulder charge right into Bloodwing's beak, who was forced back a few meters from the strength of it.

"I'm loading the tranq dart! Tranquila Blood - this won't hurt, I promise," Mordecai said gently before hitting Bloodwing with the dart. She crumpled down to the ground and the tranq stopped her from moving or flying. She just laid down on the ground. But her shape was not good. Blast marks from my grenades, open wounds from Krieg's axe, and a few gunshot wounds. But I think she would make it. I stroked her on her gigantic neck.

"Good girl. You just rest now," I said gently. I could hear her trill softly.

"Ok, she's still alive. Get the microchip from her collar, and we can get her back to Sanctuary," Mordecai said.

I looked at the collar around her neck. Thankfully, it looked undamaged. Though some of the grenade may have hit it. If I did, I couldn't tell. I grabbed the microchip and stored it in my ECHO. But when I heard a beeping noise that sounded awfully a lot like a BOMB, my heart sank before I started running.

"Oh, now I remember! EXPLOSIIIIIIIIIVE!" Jack yelled before Bloodwing's head exploded. I looked at her corpse, shocked beyond belief.

"NO!" Mordecai yelled in a distraught tone.

"That is why you don't screw with me. You and little friend Mordecai turn yourselves in, or that dumbass bird is just the beginning," Jack threatened. I gripped my hair and I had the severe urge to punch something.

"Goddammit, Jack! I'M GONNA KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME?!" Mordecai said, breathing heavily.

"Dammit. We couldn't save her," Krieg said depressingly.

"At least we got what we came for. That's some good news," I said, holding up the microchip and walking toward the back door. "You check one crate for yourself. I'll get the other."

I walked over to one of the loot crates and opened it. I saw 2 weapons that really stood out. I picked both of them up.

One of them was a Maliwan SMG, but the design was different. Definitely smoother. And from the heat I could feel while holding it, I could tell that it had an extremely powerful core.

The other was a Jakobs shotgun, but it was designed differently. It had a diamond like color while being more lightweight. But it being Jakobs told me that it would have some good power behind it. Perhaps more than others. But then I noticed the labels on them.

"The Hellfire and Striker," I stated.

"You found weapons that were labeled? So did I. Two different editions of Sledge's Shotgun. One is Jakobs made. The other Bandit made," Krieg said, holding the two shotguns in both of his hands.

"Nice finds," I said, admiring the shotguns. If you shot them both at an enemy at the same time, they would do damage. Especially since the Bandit-made one was Slag.

"So I keep these?" Krieg asked.

"That's up to you. It's your loot. As for me, I'm definitely keeping my finds," I said, storing my weapons in my ECHO.

"Yeah, I'm keeping these," Krieg said, putting them away. "Let's get that upgrade to Sanctuary."

I nodded and continued forward out of the door.

"Oh, where the hell is... I had a violin somewhere, I was going to play it all sarcastically... goddammit, it was going to be awesome. Blake! Where's a bloody violin?!" Jack yelled, making me have to stop and close my eyes to calm down.

"He'll get his. Trust me," Krieg said, placing an arm on my shoulder.

"I know. Let's keep going," I said, jumping down the platform and heading back toward the Fast Travel.

"Whoa! You didn't think you were going to get out of here ALIVE, did ya?" Jack asked rhetorically.

"And how are you going to stop me?" I asked snidely.

"Intruder in range. Deploying reinforcements," I could hear on the intercom.

"Robert. Krieg. Get down," Mordecai said in a dead serious tone of voice. I decided to stay still and see what Mordecai planned on doing.

Loaders began getting moonshot near us. But as soon as they landed, they were shot to pieces with one shot from Mordecai's sniper.

"DIE ASSHOLES! SCREW YOU! SCREW YOU! VETE ET DIABLO, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" Mordecai roared. "Take THAT!"

Right before my eyes, every time a loader landed, it was shot to pieces in one shot. Whatever sniper he had, I wanted. I could hear Mordecai roaring in rage as he did it. The angrier they are at the start, the sadder they are. I could tell that he was extremely upset judging by the level of his anger.

Me and Krieg went to the Fast Travel Station and traveled back to Sanctuary.

"Alright, sweet, sweet. Found it! Alright, this is a song for Mordecai's stupid bird, in E..." Jack said, playing awful violin music in the background.

"You're making my ears bleed," I said flatly.

"Ah, you know what? Screw you. It would've been hilarious if I found it earlier. Shut up," Jack snapped, but I ignored him and I followed the location on my ECHO to find Claptrap, who was way in the back. And horrifyingly enough, I stood in front of Claptrap once again.

"Robert, where have you been? I was going to show you the shortcut to Sanctuary, but you wandered off! I also can't help but notice a considerable lack of 'Welcome back Claptrap' decorations. Ah well, I'm sure they just haven't finished setting them up," Claptrap said. I face palmed. These moments were why I couldn't stand him at times.

"Yeah, that's cool and all. Take this," I said, practically forcing the microchip into Claptrap.

"Buddy! What the HELL are you do-do-do-do-do-ho-HOO! Holy skagsack! I'm invisible! This is - you - I can't... Gimme five," Claptrap said, making me look at him with an obvious look. "Oh, right."

Claptrap made himself visible and held his hand up high. I'm not the type to leave high fives hanging, so I hit his hand.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"Great. Claptrap can get us through Hyperion databases now. Come on back. We may have a way past the bunker," Roland informed me.

"Really?" I asked curiously. I headed back to headquarters and noticed that Mordecai was standing near the entrance outside, holding a lager. The look on his face was pretty solemn.

"I'm... sorry Mordecai," I said sadly.

"Ah, it's ok. I know you tried your best. I blame Jack though," Mordecai said bitterly before leaning his head all the way back and taking a swig.

I gave him a sympathetic looked before going to Roland. I still had a responsibility to make sure we were prepared for Control Core Angel.

"You said you had a way past the bunker?" I asked.

"Not exactly a guarantee, but we can definitely make it easier for you. Take this note to Thousand Cuts," Roland said, holding out a letter.

"Ok. What's this all about?" I asked, taking the letter.

"You're going to deliver that letter to a bandit leader known as the Slab King. He used to be a Crimson Raider until his methods got too brutal. I didn't ripping Hyperion officials limb from limb as an effective way to get intel. He disagreed. Still, he owes me a favor, and he can help us get past the bunker leading to Control Core Angel," Roland explained.

"I see. Well, I'll head out immediately. And I have to say, I agree with this Slab King. There's nothing these bastards don't deserve," I said, waking out with Krieg right behind me.

"We got another job?" Krieg asked.

"Of course we do. There ain't no rest for the wicked," I told him while gesturing for him to follow me. But I couldn't shake this intense feeling that something bad was going to happen.

* * *

A/N: There we go! The fight with Bloodwing was a little quick, but I doubt she would've lasted long against good weaponry with no kind of protection. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed!


	16. Chapter 16- Brick the Slab King

A/N: We're back everyone! And please note that this story is actually doing better than my other 2, which gives me a warm feeling inside. And I have all of you to thank for it. Now that the sappy shit is out of the way, let's meet everyone's favorite brutal bandit leader, Brick. And the Lynchwood missions will start next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Me and Krieg teleported to Overlook to begin heading towards Thousand Cuts.

"Luckily you're able to teleport with me. Otherwise, you'd have to walk from Three Horns, through the Fridge, just to even get to the Highland, much less get to Thousand Cuts," I explained to Krieg.

"Don't rub it in," Krieg said, rolling his eyes. Since his left one still looked like he was insane, it was a bit unnerving.

"Roland, where do we need to go?" I asked, summoning a Bandit technical from the Catch-a-Ride outside of Overlook.

"Thousand Cuts is west of the Highlands. If you're looking for the Slab King, that's where he'll be. Be careful though. He kind of lost it after Hyperion killed his dog," Roland explained.

"His dog?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah, he owned a small little dog and Jack killed it. Right now, just focus on getting to Thousand Cuts and giving the Slag King that note," Roland explained.

I began driving toward Thousand Cuts when a thought occurred to me.

"Angel?" I asked.

"Yes Robert?" she asked.

"Uh... just... do you know anyone outside of us?" I asked her hesitantly.

"The list of people I know is small. The list of people I'm friends with is even smaller," Angel said depressingly. "Why the sudden curiosity?"

"Just making conversation. I also have to say that I'm looking forward to meeting you," I said while smiling. Angel smiled widely at these words. But the smile seemed sort of sad.

"Likewise. But let's get through this war first," Angel said.

"We'll win. I know we will with you on our side. Knowing is half of the battle, and you do a good job at that. We're the guns, which is the other half. This battle is in the bag!" I exclaimed, making Angel laugh.

"Your cheery attitude is infectious. I like that," Angel said happily. "You're nearly to Thousand Cuts. Just focus on that and contact me when you need me."

"Duly noted," I said, ending the call.

"You like her," Krieg said. Without even looking at him, I could tell he was grinning.

I blushed a deep red before exiting the vehicle without facing Krieg.

"Fuck you," I said, continuing up to Thousand Cuts.

"No, I think you want to do that to Angel," Krieg teased me.

"Do what to me?" Angel asked, making me turn even more red.

"It's nothing," I said, slapping Krieg in his head. Krieg still continued to snicker. Though I suppose the snicker was better than the usual insane laugh.

We headed to Thousand Cuts and took a look around the landscape. The giant tower in the distance immediately took my attention. I could tell it was Angel's tower.

"Control Core Angel is at the top of that mountain. That's where the Vault Key's being held. The Slab King is up on the other cliff. He can help us get past the bunker outside the control core. Hopefully," Roland said, making me pull out my new Hellfire. Something told me these guys were not at all going to be nice. As soon as I got near the town...

"Intruders! We got intruders!" a bandit yelled, gesturing for his bandit companions to join him in combat. I quickly blasted him in the head with my Hellfire, turning his head into a charred ball.

"Intruder huh? Sounds like Hyperion sent another assassin! Alright boys: Fight like badasses, or die like bitches!" the Slab King exclaimed. I could tell he definitely sucked as a boss.

"You'll have to fight through the Slabs to reach the King. Be careful," Roland told me.

"Like always," I said, shooting a Goliath repeatedly in the chest and turning him to ashes in seconds. I was amazed by the sheer fire power of this gun. Literally fire power.

Krieg went over to focus on a section of Marauders in order to test out the Jakobs edition of Sledge's Shotgun. He pulled the trigger once and it fired twice, blasting the bandit's skull to little, sticky pieces. Hopefully not too many people tried to oppose us. We still needed their help for the bunker.

"I tried to keep to myself, but noooo! You Hyperion bastards had to come after me! You just had to kill Dusty! You want to treat me like a bandit? That's exactly what I'm gonna be!" the Slab King exclaimed.

"I'm not Hyperion! I'm a Crimson Raider," I assured him.

"What would the Crimson Raiders need with the Slabs?" the Slab King asked.

"He wrote a note for you. Stop your Slabs from trying to kill me, and I can show you," I explained.

"I'll make a deal with you. You survive our initiation as one of the Slabs, and we'll listen," the Slab King said.

"You got a deal," I said in a satisfied tone.

"Slabs! Back off our visitors. Turns out we're putting them through the ringer," the Slab King said, making the Slabs who were shooting at us back off. Though they had sadistic grins on their faces. Oh, I don't think the ringer was going to be very fun. For us at least.

"Oh, yeah. The Slab King won't take to you unless you join his gang. Just survive whatever initiation he's got planned for you, then give him that note," Roland explained.

"That's comforting," Krieg said sarcastically.

Me and Krieg walked through the town and went up to the top of the mountain where the Slab King was held up. The Slabs looked a little to excited about what was to happen. We walked through the open door and it immediately slammed downed behind us.

"You made it to my throne room recruit - but now it's time for the real initiation! Slabs! Rip em' up!" the Slab King yelled as bandits began jumping down from the King's vantage point. I pulled out my Striker and immediately brained the Bruiser that jumped down while Krieg threw one of his axes in a marauder's head.

"You idiots always wanted to fight a Vault Hunter! Well, now's your chance to fight 2 of them!" the Slab King yelled.

"Last mistake they'll ever make," I said, knocking a Goliath's helmet off with a flying kick. Before he could truly get enraged, I jumped on his shoulders and stuffed my Striker in the stump of his head and pulled the trigger. The Striker was powerful enough to cut him clean in _half. _

"That was disgusting! I love it!" the Slab King yelled. I had to admit. So did I.

Krieg used his Bandit version of Sledge's Shotgun to headshot 2 bandits by adjusting his aim in a split second. It wasn't enough to blow their heads off, but it was enough to kill them both.

"Nice shot!" the Slab King exclaimed. He was definitely enjoying this show.

I saw that 2 Badass Marauders jumped down and Krieg and I looked at each other before nodding. I took the Badass Marauder on the right and had my sword in my left hand, charging toward the marauder.

The marauder began firing his Torgue assault rifle at me and I sidestepped all of his shots easily because they were more slow moving projectiles.

I took a swipe at his gun hand and my sword was knocked back about an inch before kicking the marauder in the face before slicing again. This time the sword went through the shield and chopped his hand off. Not a second passed before I decapitated him.

"Who's next?" I said, twirling the blade before shortening it to a knife and holstering it on my boot.

Krieg seemed to have trouble with his marauder as the bastard didn't seem to stand still. I switched to my Pitchfork, and with one headshot, his shield was depleted and he was knocked down by the force. That was all Krieg needed to plant his axe in his skull.

"The recruits are making you all look like idiots! Slabs, go get em!" the Slab King yelled.

Next, 2 midget psychos came down, and as if we were one, I decapitated the one on the right with my knife with Krieg doing the same thing to the midget on the left. Then we got 2 Bruisers and another midget psycho.

Krieg threw an axe into the midgets head before taking a leap in the air. Before the Bruisers could get shots off with their shotguns, I pulled out my knife in a quick move and sliced their hands off before stabbing one in the face while Krieg did the same to the other Bruiser.

Next were the Badass Goliaths I saw next the Slab King jump down.

"Move out the way. I'm throwing a tesla," Krieg said, unpinning the grenade.

I quickly moved out of the way as he threw the shock element grenade and it began burning holes through the Goliaths, who didn't even have time to get angry before they crumpled to the ground.

"Uh, oh - Goliath on the loose!" the Slab King exclaimed. I don't understand why he thought these things would be off any effect. What I did not expect was an enraged one jumping down, twice the size of a normal goliath. And of course with my luck, he started going after me first.

I performed a slide underneath the Goliath's legs while holding my Striker and blasting him in the back with it. Even though the shotgun got enough penetration to the point where his heart was visible, he was still fighting as furious as before.

But then Krieg tossed an axe into the hole that I made and it sliced his heart clean in half.

"You slabs suck!" the Slab King exclaimed. That was before we were joined by 2 more Goliaths of the same description.

I performed a butterfly twist and several backflips to move out of the direction of the Goliath's incoming ground pound.

"I haven't seen moves like that in... well, ever!" the Slab King exclaimed, sounding impressed. I was definitely showing off, but I was definitely not afraid to show the skill I had. Then I had the most devilish idea.

I pinned a live grenade to my foot before running toward the Goliath, nearing the end of a Grand Master Swipe as the foot came down on the Goliath's head, blasting me back and the Goliath. It dropped my shield and my foot had trauma going through it, but that was fun to do.

"Now you're just showing off," Krieg said, tossing his axe in the Goliath's chest, it having absolutely no effect.

I injected myself with a healing hypo before firing at the Goliath with my Hellfire, doing a good job of turning his skin to ash.

"If you got it, flaunt it," I said, performing a football pose. Krieg rolled his eyes before we turned to the Slab King. It didn't look like he had anything else to send at us.

"You killed some of my best men just to get to me. I only got one thing to say to you," the Slab King said, rising from his chair. I held my Hellfire aloft just in case he tried anything.

"That... was... AWESOME!" the Slab King yelled, ripping of his mask. His appearance seemed to portray exactly what you would expect him. A big, beefy guy littered with scars. At least on his arms. He jumped from the top of his platform, grabbing his hammer in the process.

"So whatchu what?" he asked us.

"Help," I told him simply.

"Hey, I have to say you are the biggest badasses of all time!" Brick exclaimed.

"I'm sure there are people who would definitely disagree," I said simply.

"Well, they have no sense if they do. You both actually survived initiation. I'm proud to call you both Slabs," Brick said proudly.

"Well, thanks. But first things first," I said, placing the note in his hands. Brick looked at it with a keen interest. I glanced it. It says, 'I O U 1' - Brick. Was that it?

"Heh. I was wondering when Roland would call in that favor. So... the bunker. Now that's you're both one of us, my boys can help you take her down. Go tell Roland I'm in," Brick said.

"I'll do just that," I said, contacting Roland on the ECHO. "Good news. We got the Brick to help out."

"Great job. With Brick's crew on our side, we should have an easier time getting past the bunker protecting Angel. Come on back and we'll see about getting through that door that will only open for Jack," Roland explained.

"Can do. Now we just need to get back to Sanctuary," I said.

"Let me get the door for you," Brick offered, walking up to the door that the Slabs previously closed on us. But before I left, I noticed a bandit mockingly clapping at us.

"Yeah, good job. We're all soooo happy that you killed off all our friends. This is totally not sarcasm," the bandit said in the most sarcastic tone I ever heard.

"SILENCE THE VOICES!" Krieg yelled, swinging his axe on the bandit's head and slicing his head in half. "That was all me in case you were wondering."

Me and Brick laughed at his attitude.

"Wow. You are a true Slab," he said, while walking in front of the door, us not far behind.

"So the Vault Hunters met the Slabs. What a lovely opportunity to kill 3 bandits with one mortar assault," Jack said in a chipper voice.

"Targeting beacons initialized. Beginning mortar bombardment," the Hyperion woman said.

"Shit," I said, pulling out my Hornet while Krieg pulled out a corrosive Maliwan SMG.

"King, he's using mortars again! He's using mortars -" one of the Slab bandits yelled.

"Aw, crap! Slabs, we gotta stop those mortars or there won't be nobody left to help you with the bunker!" Brick exclaimed, lifting the door up with ease. We were immediately thrown into combat with a few loaders. Krieg began littering them with gunfire while I began doing the same. Brick simply did not give a shit and just started running forward.

"Follow me! Jack must've dropped some beacons to help guide the mortars! If we don't destroy the beacons, we're dead!" he exclaimed.

Krieg shot a loader's arm off and Brick finished it with a punch straight through him. Damn, he could hit hard.

"Give me something else to kill!" he said, moving forward toward the beacons as I finished the last loader. "We got to destroy those targeting beacons! They're guiding the mortars!"

Me and Krieg followed him across the bridge, Krieg brandishing his axe and running at top speed like the psycho he was.

Then a WAR had suddenly landed in front of us. Brick had gone up to it and started punching it with no fear.

"Feel the wrath of the Slab King!" Brick yelled, hitting the loader hard enough to make it stumble. I had never seen heavy hitting of this magnitude ever in my life.

Krieg jumped and performed and curled into a hedgehog ball while spinning in midair toward the WAR loader. He cut off the loader's left gun turret without losing any momentum. I used my sword to cut the right arm of the loader before grabbing the arm, turning it back on the loader, and throwing the arm through it, making it fall flat.

"Boom bitch!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms in the air like someone scored a touchdown.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha! That's my Slab!" Brick exclaimed. I wasn't as strong as Brick, but I definitely wasn't a lightweight.

We continued forward and I noticed that the entire area was littered with red targets on the ground.

"Stay of the target circles!" Brick warned.

"Duly noted," I said, making sure to avoid the circles as I went along. Then we reached a targeting beacon, but it was guarded by a shield. One of Hyperion's most powerful reflection shields, no doubt.

"The beacon's got a reflector shield! Let me punch it down!" Brick said, making me really want to watch this.

Brick flexed his muscles for a bit before his arms went high and the reflector shield was no more. He was worse than any Goliath easily.

"Shield's down, Slabs! Attack the beacon!" he said, beginning to punch the shit out of it. We soon began attacking the beacon as well. And in seconds, the beacon was in pieces.

"Nice," Krieg complimented.

"That's one beacon down! Let's move!" Brick told us as more loaders came raining down.

"Hey! Nobody destroys my beacons! Here come the bots bandit!" Jack exclaimed.

"Do they ever seem to do anything but waste your money and my ammo?" I said, quickly shutting 2 loaders down instantly with a shot in the eye. Krieg and Brick teamed up on one loader, and the poor guy didn't stand a chance against that melee duo.

More and more of loaders showed up, but they were easily knocked down when Krieg and Brick were on a slaughtering frenzy. I was able to take out numerous amounts of loaders myself by hitting them in the eye with the Hornet. It was a mean, green, loader killing machine. I'm grateful Dahl sent it to me.

"I see another beacon - let's rip it up!" Brick exclaimed, running up to the beacon and breaking the shield down like last time. "Smashed!"

"Goddammit, bots! Get them away from the beacons!" Jack yelled, sending down more loaders. This time we all separated. Now they had a new loader. A light blue loader that I had never seen before.

Instead of bullets, it fired a ball of energy that I barely managed to dodge before I attempted to shoot it in the eye, but my aim was thrown off by a WAR loader who was able to stomp me back with a powerful shockwave. That I did not see coming.

I saw an axe was planted in his eye and the WAR loader instantly went down. But now we had a new problem. The light blue loader from before apparently had a type of shield up, and my bullets were having no effect on it. To make matters worse was that the loaders could take cover in there and shoot at us.

"Never could stand these damn things," Brick said, running up to it.

He walked inside the shield with no fucks given. A lightning tesla had began to electrocute them, but he seemed to take the pain and knocked the ION loader back so he would drop his shields. The moment the shield was dropped, Krieg hit one of the loaders in the eye with an axe, and I hit the other loader with a quick Jakobs pistol shot to the eye.

We continued forward while dodging the mortar fire and waited for Brick to lower the shield before we started blasting. Then the last beacon was in pieces.

"Ooohhh, yeah!" Brick exclaimed.

"Hell yeah!" me and Krieg exclaimed.

"Oh, come on! How hard is to wipe out 1 Vault Hunter, a lunatic, and a walking slab of meat?! GET EM!'" Jack yelled. His temper was at a breaking point. This time, we got another new loader. This one was a bright Hyperion yellow and it had 3 times the guns of a normal badass, twice the size, and it looked like it had better armor too.

I swapped to my Striker and began using the Jakobs fire rate to hit it in its exposed wires as much as I could. Brick was able to keep it busy and stand strong by staying close up. And Krieg was unloading on him with his Maliwan SMG.

Suddenly, my tattoos lit up and with a sudden jerk of my hand, the loader was suddenly lifted in the air by a strange mystical force. It completely boggled my mind. Maybe this was a power I got from Maya? So every Siren I touch, I get their powers.

"Awesome," I said aloud.

After a few more seconds, the acid finally ate through the loader's armor and made him fall apart.

"How'd you do that?" Brick asked me before spotting my tattoos. "Never mind. I think I got all the explanation I need. It's pretty crazy though. I've never seen a Siren other than Lilith. Is this common?"

"No it's not. Long story, but we need to get back to Sanctuary," I reminded him.

"Before you do that, I need you to head to the Lynchwood area," Brick told me.

"I don't do jobs that stray away from killing Jack. Until that kind of objective is done, I will not take other jobs unless they are of prime importance," I explained to him.

"It is important. Lynchwood is one of the places Jack is using to ship Eridium out of. If you can stop the train system there, it'll make it all the more harder of for him to charge the Vault Key," Brick explained. I smiled. This was definitely good enough for me.

"All right. I'll do it. I assume you'll fill me in once I arrive?" I asked.

"You got it Slab. Badass job today by the way. I'll meet you back in Sanctuary. Oh, and just so you know?" Brick asked.

"What?" Krieg and I asked.

"My Slabs will still probably still try to kill you. Because they're friggin idiots," Brick told us.

"Well that's comforting," I said sarcastically.

"If they do, don't feel bad about killing them. I never do," Brick said, his tone nonchalant.

"Thanks for the tip. Come on Krieg. We got a job to do," I told him.

"Yes. We do," Krieg said evenly.

* * *

A/N: We finally have Brick in the mix! YAS! Note this: Axton might appear in the next chapter of the chapter after. I think you all might like how I will introduce him. Also, ask me if you want links to those moves that I mentioned in the ringer. There are videos on how to learn them if you're interested. But at the least, they'll show you what it looks like.


	17. Chapter 17- Axton the Lynchwood Marshall

A/N: Time for Lynchwood! I've decided this is the chapter I'm going to introduce Axton. Some people have been very interested in this, and here it comes. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Me and Krieg went through The Dust to head toward Lynchwood. The only way to get to Lynchwood without the Fast Travel was to take the train in the Dust. It was a quick ride over to the train station, and then we had to wait about 45 minutes for the train to get us to Lynchwood. I asked Brick on the rundown about Lynchwood while we were on the train.

"Lynchwood used to be New Haven. The place where we originally set up shop before Wilhelm drove us out. Now it's filled with bandits and Marshalls working for Hyperion. The whole place is run by Handsome Jack's girlfriend, and-" I had to interrupt him at that point.

"Wait, Jack has a girlfriend? The fuck?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yup. Shocking, I know, considering how much of an asshole he is, she's probably just as crazy as he is if not more. But as I was saying, the whole place is run by her and teams of marshals. They only come out in town when you do something significant enough to get their attention. They also patrol the outskirts of town on armored skags," Brick explained.

"But what does that have to do with Eridium?" I asked.

"I'm getting to that. The only reason New Haven was kept around in the first place was because it's rich with Eridium mines. Jack plans on torching the place as soon as they run out. But if you take out the train that supplies Jack with the Eridium, it'll take him months to repair the train system. Hopefully by then, he'll already be dead. And you might as well wrap up the whole town while you're at it," Brick explained.

"Trust me, I always get my jobs done. It's why I'm a Vault Hunter," I said to him confidently.

"And a damn good one at that. I have the jobs posted on a bounty board in Lynchwood. Get there, accept the jobs, get them done and you get paid and deliver a blow to Jack's efforts in the process," Brick explained.

"Consider it done," I said, ending the call.

When Krieg and I finally arrived in Lynchwood, we had our guns drawn in case we had company. But luckily there wasn't anyone around.

I went to the bounty board, and saw Brick had 2 messages for us.

"There are 3 things I want to do. One, fight the Sheriff. Two, blow stuff up. And three, get paid. Get to the bank, and case the joint," Brick said.

"I'll take care of that one. You worry about the other one," Krieg said, going downstairs and heading outside with his Jakobs assault rifle drawn. I then turned to the only other available job and accepted it.

"Every day, the Sheriff of Lynchwood sends whatever Eridium she's yanked from the mines back to Jack. That stops today. You're going to blow up the train that she uses to transport the stuff. Get to the demolition depository. And remember, we're on limited time before that train leaves. Make this as quick as you can," Brick told me.

The area was marked on my map and I headed in the direction that was marked on my map. Fighting my way through a field of skags, I went up the elevator to get up to the depository. I immediately noticed a surplus of foes I had never seen. They looked like some type of animal, but they had human characteristics. From the archives about Pandora, I think they were called rats. What ever they were, they were toast.

I pulled out my fire Maliwan sniper and hit one of the rats in the head, which burned all the flesh off his head and turned him it into a flaming skull. His allies immediately turned to me and started shooting.

Staying calm and keeping my aim steady, I proceeded to snipe every rat I could see. The average sized ones went down in one shot easy, but I could see a mummified rat who tossed an axe in my direction. I quickly sniped it out of the air before shooting him in the head as quickly as I could. He stumbled back from the pain, but did not go down.

I ran forward to get up close to the rat and it recovered from my sniper shot before he started tossing axes again.

I side-stepped them easily and swapped to my Striker. When I got close, I blasted the lab rat's already scarred head to pieces.

"You can get a bomb cart from that depository. Shut the door at the end of the track before the bomb reaches it," Brick told me.

I then moved to get a bomb cart from the depository by flipping the switch. I then followed the train tracks toward the end and hit the button at the end to close the door at the end. The bomb then stopped completely once it hit the door.

"Good going. Now grab the bomb," Brick told me. I lifted the entire bomb cart onto my right shoulder while swapping to my Hellfire with my left hand.

"Got it. What's next?" I asked, running forward.

"Damn, you're strong! Anyway, take the bomb to the abandoned train tracks. You're gonna set the bomb on a collision course with Sheriff's Eridium train," Brick explained. I nodded and ran forward with the bomb on my shoulder. I couldn't run nowhere near as fast as I could if I wasn't carrying this bomb cart, but that was to be expected with a load like this.

I set the bomb down on the train tracks and gave it a push.

"I had one of my Slabs set up a detonator on the bomb cart. Get to it before the train leaves," Brick told me.

"Consider it done," I said, gripping my Hellfire with both hands and taking off into a run toward the train tracks. But then I got an ECHO call from someone unknown.

I accepted the call and it was a light skinned woman. She had the sexy, cowboy look, which was pretty appealing to look at. For some reason, the immediately thought of Angel came up and I stopped in my tracks to question her.

"Who are you?" I said evenly.

"Sheriff of Lynchwood to you bandit," she said spitefully. Well, lowered to 'almost hot' now.

"Ah. So you're Jack's girlfriend. I have to wonder why you decided to fuck a family killing psychopath," I said as I ran forward to the trigger to the bomb.

"And you insist on allying yourself with monsters. Let me tell you something about Brick. We snagged him during the fall of New Haven. He never sold out his friends, but his puppy - It was this little brown thing. Once I wrapped my hands around its neck, Brick lost it. You could barely hear the crack of his neck over Brick's sobs. I mean actually sobbing. Like a baby," the Sheriff said distastefully.

"And you think that makes me think any less of him? Hardly. It just proves even a stone cold badass like Brick has something to care about. Better that than being a cold hearted bitch like you," I said coldly before ending the call. Jack's allies were just as bad as him. And for that, this town, this woman, her marshals? They would all die today.

"Come in Robert," Krieg told me.

"Yeah. What's up?" I asked.

"Near your location is a bandit named Mad Dog that I need explosives from. Can you save me the trouble and kill him? Meet me in front of a skag den so I can cover it in the laxative. It's a long story if you want me to explain," Krieg asked.

"Not needed. He's in the way of the detonator for the Eridium train, and most bandits will try to kill you on sight, so I would've killed him anyway," I said, continuing forward.

When I neared the location, I got jumped by two of those lab rats and a regular sized rat. I jumped back before tossing a grenade in the lab rats' faces before shooting them both in their faces with my Jakobs pistol. They ended up losing half of their body before falling to the ground. I used my Maliwan fire sniper and sniping the rat in the head. That was before I got the arrival of other rats.

I swapped to my Hellfire and lit up the rat on a top ledge. I turned the corner and began spraying the rats with my Hellfire. I was able to kill 3 of them before I had to swap my clip. Their combined efforts managed to break my shield, so I moved back into cover. Once I had my clip completely swapped, I turned the corner and finished off the last of the rats in my way before I had an explosive tossed at me, which hit me head on and knocked me on my ass.

My shield was drained completely and I could feel my ribs bend a little from the impact.

"Oh, you bitch," I said before rising to my feet again. Most grenade throws I've seen aren't normally that accurate. I looked up to see that the culprit of throwing explosives was the bandit Mad Dog Krieg mentioned.

He then began tossing explosives at me, only this time I rolled several meters away from the explosion and reacting by emptying all 6 of my bullets in my clips at Mad Dog. Disappointingly, he didn't dodge any of them, and his head was ripped to pieces.

"I expected more of a fight," I said, going forward and picking up his bomb.

"We got what we need to make a bile bomb. Go slap the bomb outside a skag den. Also, that train is coming by soon. Now's the time to get to that detonator," Brick told me.

"Explosives. huh? That oughtta be fun," the Sheriff said as I went to the detonator and arrived just in time to see the bomb going toward the train. Once they were right on top of each other... BOOM! The train tracks were completely destroyed. Would take them months at the least to rebuild it. And Jack wouldn't last that long if I had anything to do with it.

"Hell yeah! No more Eridium is coming out of Lynchwood now, that's for sure! After you get that bank broken into, you should be ready for the final thing," Brick praised.

"Gotta say, that's pretty irritating. The Eridium mine is half the reason this town exists. Credit when credit's due. You really know how to push my buttons," the Sheriff said.

"It's what I live for. Don't worry, you won't have to worry about me once I'm done here. Because you're next," I said, twirling the revolver in my index finger before putting it up and heading toward a skag den.

"Want to know something? I hear after Brick escaped our custody, he tracked down the guy who betrayed New Haven to Hyperion. Somebody named Shep Sanders. Brick gouged his eyes out with his thumbs and cracked his skull open like an egg. All while poor Shep screamed for mercy. Your friend Roland kicked him out of Sanctuary after that. You Vault Hunters might think you're different from bandits, but you're not," the Sheriff said, making me scoff. It's like she was trying to convince me to abandon the Crimson Raiders and join Hyperion. Like hell.

"Like you're any better? Your boyfriend sent my parents' heads to me in a box while they had nothing to do with this entire thing. And you're right. I'm not that much different from a bandit. I loot. I kill. Brutally and without remorse, but there's a fine line between becoming a bandit. I fight for good. I fight for the people. Unlike actual bandits who fight for money and to have their sick, twisted version of fun. And you have the nerve to call me a bandit," I ranted in a distasteful tone.

"Because you are. No matter how many times you can say you're not. And you're causing way too much trouble now. Let me send my best Marshall after you. He's ex-military. Let's see you fight someone who isn't a mindless bandit," the Sheriff said. Ex-military? I was intrigued.

"Bring him on. And you can come along with him. Let's see what he's got. I'll even wait," I said, standing firmly.

"You'll regret those words," the Sheriff said before signing off. I teleported to Krieg and handed him the explosives.

"I've got something to take care of before I get those explosives to the skag den," I told him.

"No problem. You need my help?" Krieg asked.

"No, I should be fine. Just hold your position in front of the den," I said, teleporting back and sitting on some steps. I then began to wait for another visitor.

I waited for a few minutes before I spotted our assassin. He was definitely military looking.

He wore cargo pants with metal boots along with a thick looking jacket with the sleeves halfway rolled up and some type of device on his right shoulder. He was holding a long barreled Vladof assault rifle as he was walking toward me with the composed march that a soldier would have.

"Well, well, what do we got here?" he asked rhetorically.

"You got yourself a Vault Hunter who's also a Siren," I said, showing him my tattoos. "And you?"

"Axton. You're Robert. The guy with the trillion bucks on his head. Gotta say, I definitely didn't expect you to be a Siren. You'd be hotter if I didn't have to kill you," Axton said, stunning me a little. Definitely never had a man call me hot. It definitely made me uncomfortable.

"Flattering," I said dryly. "I assume you're not just going to let me go by?"

"Nope. Too much money on your head. But you have the fighting chance," Axton said, beginning to fire his Vladof rifle.

I began running to the side to get away from the fire and changed to my Pitchfork and firing several times at him.

Since the projectiles were slow moving, he was able to move out of the way of most of the bullets, but since they were so wide spread and he wasn't that fast, one of them grazed him and damaged his shield slightly. He then began firing at me again with his Vladof assault rifle again.

Again, I evaded his bullets and when he started changing his clip, I changed to my Hellfire and began firing at Axton.

He ran to the side to dodge my bullets and I eventually adjusted my aim forward to meet his run and get a few shots on him.

He was lit on fire and his shield was taking the burn damage, but he did something I did not expect.

"Wanna meet my girlfriend?" he said, throwing the turret in front of him. It was a military grade Dahl Sabre turret. Exactly like the ones the dead Dahl workers sent me. It had a shield, rocket pods, and two guns on it. It even had the longbow capabilities. The exact attachments the workers sent to me.

"Fucking hell," I said as the turret turned toward me and began firing. I ended up teleporting in the shield generator and behind the turret's guns. I knew that I definitely needed to use my Siren powers. The sudden appearance of that turret changed everything.

While behind it, I threw down 5 MIRV grenades down on the ground and teleported behind Axton and kicked him in the back to knock him down to the ground.

Like I was hoping, the turret was destroyed from the plethora of MIRV grenades I dropped on the turret. I knocked the Vladof assault rifle out of his right hand and pinned him on the ground with a rough boot. I swapped to my Jakobs pistol and imbued my left fist with electricity and held it in front of him.

"It's over. You've lost," I said, throwing his shield off him.

"Damn. You got me," Axton said, his voice disgruntled. But then I spotted the wedding band he wore.

"You married?" I asked.

"The missus divorced me before I came here. Why? You plan on keeping me as a slave or something. Because I'd take death over that," Axton said distastefully.

"No. I'm not that kind of guy," I said, standing up. I stood up, pulled the firing pin back and pulled the trigger.

"You fought well, but I fought better. I honor you," I said before contacting Krieg. "I'm on my way to the skag den."

"Bout time. What kept you?" Krieg asked.

"Just one of the marshals. It's handled now," I said, taking his Sabre turret off him. This would be helpful. "I'm on my way." Then I walked off, solely focused on my next goal.

* * *

A/N: Well, I might've pissed some people off with that ending. Yes, I introduced Axton as a Marshall for Nisha. Why? Well, Axton was still forced off to the border worlds when he was dishonorably discharged. But instead of Jack contacting him on the Vault, Nisha heard about Axton first and wanted to hire him as one of her marshals. Jack wanted to kill him along with me, but Nisha assured him that he would work for the highest bidder, which was Hyperion easily. Jack agreed, knowing the Warrior would annihilate him if he turned his back on Hyperion once he awakened.(Or so he thinks) Axton took on the job as a marshal for Nisha, and was able to help keep a lot of the bandits in line. It appealed to him and when he got the call to kill me, he was glad for a possible challenge and a trillion dollars. He figured he would be able to retire on that cash, but as you all know, he lost. When we come back next time, we'll finish off Nisha and cover Opportunity. After that, we know that means. Control Core Angel. See you all next time!


	18. Chapter 18- Getting the Voice Modulator

A/N: Well, I'm not sure how too many people feel when it comes to what I did with Axton, but it is what it is. But here's where we deal with the Sheriff of Lynchwood, aka Nisha. And we're also going to cover Opportunity. This will in fact, consist of all the Opportunity side missions. Hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

"You've robbed my bank, shot up my town, and destroyed my train," Nisha said before chuckling. "I like you. Main Street. Pistols at high noon. Come alone."

I listened to the message with a smirk. If she wanted an old-fashioned showdown, then I was going to give it to her.

"You're actually going to go alone?" Krieg asked.

"Sure. I beat a Dahl veteran soldier. If some wannabe cowgirl wants a showdown, I was going to give it to her," I said smirking.

"And what about the skag we possibly foolishly nursed back to health? We just going to leave him in the mine?" Krieg asked.

"I thought about that. It's likely the skag's mother will lives down there, otherwise the skag wouldn't have led us there. He'll be fine," I assured him.

"And if he isn't?" Krieg asked.

"Then I'll take care of him. For once, there's a skag not wanting to kill me. If I didn't think leaving him with his mother was better for him, I would keep him," I said wistfully.

"Yeah. Think about that after we kill Jack. And after you lay Angel," Krieg said, making me punch him in the arm.

"Better be glad she's not hearing you. You say that again, and you're going to lose that tongue of yours," I threatened.

"Even if you do, you can read my thoughts, remember?" Krieg countered with a humorous tone.

"Damn you," I said, walking off and heading toward Nisha. The Sheriff's part of town was more on the west side, so that's where I began running to.

The path was pretty clear on the way there, which surprised me. I walked forward and noticed there were plenty of Marshals around the area. Should've known.

"Howdy partner," Nisha told me as she walked out of the door. But luckily for me, the Marshals weren't shooting at me. At least, not yet. I teleported behind her and kicked her off her vantage point.

"No, this'll be an actual showdown," I said, teleporting back down to her level meters away from her. I twirled my Jakobs pistol in my hand as she began to rise to her feet.

"Die bandit!" she yelled, firing her Jakobs pistol. Except she was aiming it more like a sniper rather than a pistol. More precision and aiming than being a trigger finger.

I moved out of the way of her slow shots and using precise, yet quick shots, I shot three bullets toward her head. She dodged the bullets and suddenly started being a trigger finger while maintaining sniper-like precision. If I didn't move as quickly as I did, I could tell that they would've been straight headshots. Maybe there's more skill to this Sheriff that meets the eye. But I was going to keep this a straight pistol fight. I've always wanted to have a straight showdown.

We traded shots back and forth. Dodging and shooting, but both of us were too quick to get hit by the other's shots. It looks like I wasn't the only one who had grown accustomed to the speed of guns. We were probably going to be here forever until someone ran out of ammo or got tired. Which wasn't going to be me anytime soon.

But speak of the devil, I heard a click from Nisha's direction, and it looked like she had ran out of pistol ammo. Yet, I still had over 400 bullets. This wasn't good for her. I smiled. I definitely had the advantage.

She seemed to realize this, and began to ran to take evasive action before tackling one of her marshals down and took his assault rifle.

"Since you want to play it that way..." I said, swapping to my Vladof assault rifle and firing at her.

She ran to hide behind some cover before almost instantly turning around and firing at me.

Unfortunately for her, I was ready and was able to fire of 5 shots into her head quickly and she dropped dead to the ground.

"Should've kept it showdown style," I said aloud while smiling.

I looked at the Marshals at see what they were going to do, but the Deputy simply nodded at me and went on about his business. I did hear from his announcements that he was deputized at gunpoint, so of course he didn't care about what happened to her. But I had news that I gleefully began to say. Let's see how this son of bitch likes it when I take away someone he cares about.

"Hey Jack!" I said happily. For once, I was the one being the douche on the other side of the ECHO. It felt good. I kind of understood why he did it.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just that the Sheriff of Lynchwood is dead and your Eridium train is destroyed here too. You know, nothing special," I said in a nonchalant voice that had a hidden glee behind it.

"Wai-wait, did you actually just kill my girlfriend? That's kind of pissing me off. Huh," Jack said before signing off. For once, I got him to shut the fuck up.

"That's that. You're done there. Come on back," Brick told me.

I teleported back to the Fast Travel and Nisha actually paid me for trying to kill her. Well, that's generous. I also got the Sheriff's badge. It looked to be made out of straight gold.

"Nice. That's worth some money," Krieg said, admiring the badge.

"It better be. Alright, now we need to figure out what we need to get past that door that can only be opened for Jack. Once we can figure that out, it's all a matter of busting in, killing anything Hyperion, and rescuing Angel before stealing the Vault Key," I said with a relaxed tone.

"All that's between us is a force field that will obliterate us if we touch it with a fingernail, a high-powered defense bunker with the best weaponry Hyperion can afford, and a door that can only be opened by the fascist himself," Krieg said in an as-a-matter-of-fact voice.

"Thanks for looking at the positives," I said, my tone dry. "Let's just get back to Sanctuary. On that note, I hit a button on the Fast Travel and teleported back to Sanctuary.

* * *

As soon as I was near the headquarters, I could hear Roland and Brick arguing. I shook my head and knew this couldn't be good. Once I was halfway up the stairs, I could make out their words.

Once I got up the stairs, I could see that Mordecai and Brick were in the background of the conversation. They looked at us and shook their heads. They didn't want to get involved, and looked like they were warning us not to either.

"You just got here. You have no right to send them on missions. We have more important jobs to do other than send him on errands to kill off the Sawteeth!" Roland yelled.

"And who said the job was about killing the Sawteeth?! I sent them to deal with the Eridium train in Lynchwood. You know that's Jack's main supplier of Eridium!" Brick yelled back.

"Like we're going to need it if we get to Angel, steal the Vault Key, and awaken the Warrior ourselves," Roland countered.

"And if the plan fails? We're going to need to buy more time if it does fail. You have to think about the negatives of the situation," Brick argued. I figured this was a good time to step in.

"I'm with Brick. Even with all the intel we have, there's a chance our raid to the Control Core won't succeed. More time would be invaluable if that does happen," I told him.

"See? That's why they even agreed to go in the first place. Because he knew it made more sense than assuming things might go to plan. New Haven was a perfect example of that," Brick said, making Roland's face go dark. I think Brick might have hit a nerve on that.

"Guys! You need to stop arguing! Regardless of the waste of time it was or not, we still have a job to do, and you are not making things better by arguing! So both of you shut the fuck up and focus!" I yelled. God, these 2 were squabbling like an old married couple.

"Um, is this a bad time?" I heard Angel ask. I calmed down and took the time to answer her.

"No, you're right on time. Go ahead Angel," I said, focusing on what she had to say.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have little time. Get to the city of Opportunity," Angel told me.

"Jack's 'utopian' city?" Lilith asked suspiciously. "Why do they need to go there?"

"Retract the suspicions Lilith. There's a reason for it," Angel said, with an irritated tone that I never heard her use. Guess she was really getting tired of Lilith giving her shit.

"Enlighten us if you would please. Other than to just tear shit up," I said in the peacekeeper voice. I had just had to break up an argument between a soldier and a bodybuilder. An argument between Sirens is not what I needed. At least, I could assume Angel was a Siren judging by her ability to charge the Vault Key. Wouldn't make sense if she wasn't.

"Well," Angel said, her voice instantly becoming kinder. "To get past the final door to Jack's chambers, you'll need to be Jack. That means passing a bio-scan and speaking a password in Jack's voice. If you can kill one of Jack's body doubles in Opportunity, I can get you through that door."

"Body doubles? As if one Jack wasn't enough," I said in disbelief.

"Don't worry. They're just other Hyperion officers wearing a type of pocket watch. It ECHOs his bio-signature to every machine in the immediate area. So his doubles can do all of his hand kissing and baby shaking for him," Angel said in a disgusted tone. "Pathetic."

"Agreed. Me and Krieg will head out as soon as possible. Anything else we can do while we're there? Because I'm thinking Opportunity has a few things that might prove to be bad in the future. Like the fact that it's run by Hyperion," I suggested.

"Well, there are people who might immigrate there. I can help you prove that it's a bad place for people to go," Lilith said deviously. "Ask Moxxi for her camcorder."

"Moxxi?" I asked.

"The woman in the bar. You don't stick around too long, so you don't know her. Just ask her. She might even have something for you to do when you get to Opportunity," Lilith explained.

"I'll remember that," I said, leaping off the ledge and looking for this bar Lilith was talking about. It was hard to miss.

When I walked inside, my senses were flooded by mass amounts of purple and loud, rhythmic music. Behind the bar was a woman that looked like she was something a dirty show girl would wear. It didn't look humanely possible for her boobs to fit in the outfit she was wearing, but she somehow made it work.

"Hello," I said, knocking on the table to get the woman's attention. She turned and her smile seemed to turn flirty in the blink of an eye.

"So you're the Vault Hunter that everyone's talking about. I must say, the wanted posters were too modest," Moxxi said, giving me a look that looked like she was trying to X-ray.

I was very uncomfortable by her stare as I crossed my arms and got straight to the point.

"You got a camera right?" I asked bluntly.

"You want my camera huh? You can borrow it on one condition. Anything you shoot better involve naked flesh, or explosions. Bonus points for both," Moxxi said.

"There won't be naked flesh, but I can oblige you on the explosions," I assured her.

She then pulled out the camera from her breasts. They _did_ look big enough to hide something in there.

I grabbed the camera before noticing the camera had a sticky substance on it. It looked sort of whitish. I turned my head at it. What the hell was white and sti- I had to restrain myself from gagging at the sight.

"Is that cum?" I asked, wanting to wash my hands with acid. What the fuck did I just get myself into?!

"Sorry about that," Moxxi said, looking at the camera with a dirty smile. "You want to make a video?"

"No thanks. I'm not into fucking someone who's obviously been taken. And God forbid if you take this the wrong way, but do you have a job for me?" I asked.

"Depends on the type of job," Moxxi said in a dirty tone. I felt the urge to bang my head on the wall while hearing Krieg snicker behind me. I turned to him with an angry look.

"Shut the fuck up bonehead," I said angrily through gritted teeth. I then turned toward Moxxi. "Specifically anything that I can get done while I'm in Opportunity."

I had to try with all my might to shake off how uncomfortable I felt.

"Well, there is something. I'm sure you're very familiar with Handsome Jack. It is my unfortunate news to tell you that I used to date him," Moxxi said, making me unconsciously take a step back. Now _that_ was freaky.

"Well, that's horrifying. What's the job?" I asked.

"Jack destroyed my arena when he thought I was cheating on him, and now he wants to build his own Underdome just to rub it in my face. We're not going to let that happen sugar. Get out to Opportunity and kill the construction foreman who's running the project," Moxxi told me.

"And I'm guessing you want me to destroy any progress they may have made on the job," I said.

"That's the idea sugar," Moxxi told me. I frowned at the name.

"What's with the name 'sugar?'" I asked.

"You don't like it?" Moxxi asked me.

"To be honest, it makes me uncomfortable a little. Robert is fine. I'll head out to Opportunity ASAP," I said, immediately turning to get out of the room. I had to restrain myself from running. I unconsciously shook my arms as if trying to get dirt off me.

"That might be a good lay," Krieg reasoned. I kind of wish I shot him when I first saw him right now.

"If your wife heard you talking like this..." I said, shaking my head.

"I'm speaking in the terms of a single man. Until you end up settling down with Angel, there's nothing wrong being satisfied. After what you've been through, you need a good lay," Krieg told me.

"Not interested. She may look good, but I don't fuck with women who are already dating someone. That's just not right. Next, I'm guessing if I were to guess the miles on her pussy..." I said, shuddering. "I'm half afraid I'll get an STD just by coming near her."

"She doesn't look _that_ bad," Krieg said, as we neared the Fast Travel.

"You sleep with her and find out," I challenged.

"No thanks. My wife is currently recovering from being imprisoned by a fascist, so no more wild lays for me," Krieg said when I got in front of the Fast Travel.

"Hmm. That's what I thought," I said, traveling to the Highlands.

* * *

When we arrived in Opportunity, I had to give Jack credit. The place looked amazing. It looked like a place where you genuinely want to live at. But I do know him. And I know living in this place would be a guaranteed death trap.

"Alright, I'm starting a conference call. Lilith, Moxxi, and Angel, I need some guidance from this point," I said. "Lilith? You first."

"Camera's on?" she asked me. I turned it on while holding it with a disgusted look on my face checking the footage.

"Fully functional," I assured her.

Good. I need you to snag an orbital drop beacon and some surveyor lures. I'll explain why once you've got em'. Oh, and while you're at it, take out some engineers. We need to show the universe that this town is as good as your health as a bullet to the face," Lilith explained.

"Krieg, you can handle that and Moxxi's job. I'll also take on killing the body double and the job over here. So, Moxxi. Lilith. I'll patch you onto Krieg's ECHO. Angel, I'll keep the call open so you can walk me through this place. Because there's no schematics for this place on he ECHOnet," I explained.

"No problem. There are digital blueprints and a map layout of Opportunity in a Hyperion database. Sending them to you and Krieg's ECHOs... now," Angel said, my map instantly coming clear and I had a clear path. I sighed in relief.

"You're amazing," I said smiling. "That'll make things a lot easier. I should have that pocket watch before you know it."

"That's good news. The sooner, the better," Angel told me. I immediately turned to Krieg.

"When you're done with everything here, head back to Sanctuary and we'll go over the Control Core Angel assault. But here. You're going to need this," I said, holding the camera out to him.

"I don't want to touch the cum-covered camera," Krieg said, reeling his hands back.

"Stop it you baby. If I can suck it up and carry the camera, you can," I said, rolling my eyes. "Just take the camera and wash your hands in acid after if you want."

Krieg hesitantly took the camera.

"He'll have to strap it to his shoulder if he wants to fight and record at the same time," Lilith told me.

"I'll patch you in," I said, dialing a little on my ECHO and giving Lilith his ECHO signal. I then began to accept the job I saw was on the bounty board. Fucking hell. It was from Claptrap.

"Every good war is won in the mind. So long as Jack's those propagan-tastic statues of himself around Opportunity, we can't truly win this war. Now go blast those statues to bits!" Claptrap exclaimed. To be honest, this sounded like an easy and satisfying job. I accepted.

"If it's just the case of blasting apart a few statues, then this'll be easy," I said, heading forward. I went to the nearest statue I saw and shot at it with my Jakobs pistol. Not even a scratch.

"Looks like the damn statue is bulletproof," I said aloud.

"The statues are bulletproof? You win this round inanimate object! Robert, I need you to search the Opportunity drop zone for a deactivated constructor. Then you can use it to cut through the statues for you!" Claptrap told me. I had to admit, it was a pretty solid plan. But I would worry about that later.

"I'll do it once I'm done with my current job," I told him, continuing forward to the objective. Once I started traveling through a section of Opportunity, I wasn't detected thankfully. I went to a lower level with a line of stairs leading right back up.

"Robert, I've sent something to your ECHO. Pull it up," Angel told me.

"Alright," I said, pulling out my ECHO and checking what she sent to me. It had a list which had a variety of names running down the queue.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a link to Jack's pocket watch once you get it. You'll be able to use the pocket watch to imitate the voices of people all over Pandora. It might be useful in future jobs. You'll be also be able to automatically calibrate voices that you pick up on your ECHO that are not calibrated. Plus, I suppose it would make a good joke on anyone in Sanctuary," Angel said, her voice slightly amused. I was stunned for a second.

"This is amazing. I... I don't know what to say," I said, my voice subdued.

"Your reaction is enough. Plus I still owe you," Angel said making me sigh.

"Angel, I thought you we were over this. I understood your situation, and don't blame you in the least bit for what happened. You need to learn not to make yourself feel guilty," I told her.

"Yeah, but people died because of what I did," Angel said.

"What Jack _made_ you do. You were forced into doing it, correct?" I asked.

"Yes, but..."

"But nothing. If you were forced into it, than you are not accountable for it. That's it. You need to learn to remember that. Just in case Lilith brings it up again. Plus it gets kind of repetitive with my trying to convince you," I explained. Angel gave me a sheepish smile through the image.

"Sorry. It's just I'm still remembering how angry you were when I sold Sanctuary out," Angel said.

"Of course I was angry. I was fucking livid. But the situation has changed when I found out more about the situation. And there's something I owe you once I get you out of there," I told her.

"And what's that?" Angel asked me.

"A decent meal. Just the two of us?" I asked, my voice sort of hesitant. Hell, I could count the times I've dated on one hand.

"A date?" Angel asked, her voice sounding surprised.

"Exactly. Probably the wrong place since I'm in the middle of a city that are crawling with Hyperion soldiers and loaders while you're trapped on top of a tower in Thousand Cuts, but it's for future references. Something for us both to look forward to," I said while smiling.

"Let's just get through this war first," Angel told me.

"It's as good as won. Trust me on that," I said confidently. I knew we were going to win. The guy failed to kill me while I could kill everything he had to offer if you gave me enough ammo and Eridium.

I wanted to done with this a quickly as I could, so I teleported to the location and was right in front of Jack's double. I instantly shot off my whole clip of my Jakobs revolver and it laid him out.

"Well that was easy," I said idly before grabbing the pocket watch. "Got the pocket watch."

"Good. Now I need to calibrate Jack's voice onto the modulator. Get to an info kiosk," Angel told me.

While paying attention to the loaders shooting at me, I noticed that all of the Hyperion soldiers were running rather than fighting me. I had to smirk at that unnatural behavior. Guess they're finally learning that a fight with me means a fight to your death.

I took the arm of a loader off with a good shot with my Jakobs pistol before going straight for the eye.

Two of the loaders consisted of the red ones I saw during the Overlook incident. The other was that blue loader I saw in Thousand Cuts. I really did not want to deal with that stupid shield right now.

Right when the HOT loader was halfway in the shield, I Phaselocked it and finished it with my Hornet. The explosion knocked the ION loader back and his shield went down. I shot him in the eye with the Hornet and he collapsed while his armor was melting.

"Tactics. They're a hell of a thing," I said in satisfaction. I then focused on activating the info kiosk.

"Did you know some people still believe in silly superstitions like angels, demons, and ancient alien warriors? We like to call them bandits," Jack said. I rolled my eyes. This guy was really full of it.

"Yes! This is going to work! If I can get a few more samples of Jack's voice, I calibrate Jack's voice into the voice modulator. You need to get more voice samples from the other info kiosks," Angel told me.

"I'll try to make it as quick as I can," I said, teleporting a few meters to the next kiosk.

"Hey kids! Did you know your chances of being disemboweled increase my eighty thousand percent upon leaving Opportunity? It's a scientific fact," Jack said, making me hate these kiosks more and more.

"I almost have what I need. Just activate a few more kiosks," Angel told me. I teleported to the next kiosk and activated it.

"Did you know you're staring at the Opportunity pleasure palace? That's right - for a thousand bucks, you'll be able to spend an hour with a life sized likeness of me," Jack said. Who the fuck would pay for that? Looking at it more logically, why would you spend that much money for a fake rather than the real thing?

I shook my head as I teleported again to the next kiosk. Luckily these weren't far distances, so it wasn't that tiring. Plus I was gone before any Hyperion soldiers knew I was there.

"Hey kids! Do you know what your mommies and daddies gave up so you could live in Opportunity? Literally nothing! Your family is paid to be here - I'm the one who feeds and protects everyone! Remember, we should all love our parents, but love me more," Jack said, making me lose my temper and ripped the kiosk out of the ground and throw it to the side. Again, the fact that this bastard is trying to show off that he's the hero is pissing me off in more ways then I knew possible. I had to take a deep breath before teleporting to the next kiosk.

"Did you know littering in Opportunity is punishable by death? If not, you should also know that complaining about Opportunity's laws in considered verbal littering," Jack said, making me contemplate should I kill him outright.

"Maybe I should torture him for about a week. It would make me feel so much better," I said, rubbing my chin.

"Sorry about the kiosks. I know they weren't exactly pleasant to listen to," Angel told me. "But I got some stuff that might make you feel better. Look at your ECHO."

I lifted up my ECHO and took a look at it. It was a recording of Krieg destroying his construction site and the audio that goes along with it.

"My construction site!" Jack yelled sounding anguished before angry. "Ah, for... Moxxi, you BITCH!" I laughed loudly at this. Not only at the site of his construction site, but also for destroying something he actually cared about.

"Ok, you're right. That did make me feel better. You know me so well," I said smiling.

"Well, it's not that hard to know that you like seeing Jack angry. And that was easily a good way to satisfy that. Now, we're done here as soon as Krieg is done with incriminating Opportunity and once you attach the pocket watch to the console. Oh, and Claptrap's statue thing," Angel said in an as-a-matter-of-fact voice.

"Easy," I said teleporting to the location. I inserted the pocket watch inside the device and I gave her time to work her magic.

"I see the files," Angel told me. After a few seconds, she told me it was all done. I grabbed it and attached it to my belt. I really needed a different look than just regular bandit clothing with no sleeves.

"Now this is the main reason why I added that calibration to your ECHO. Normally, you would speak in Jack's voice until you took it off after you got inside my door. But luckily, I have your voice calibrated in the pocket watch and you don't have to worry about that," Angel said making me sigh in relief.

"That's wonderful. Now I don't-" I said, sounding more and more like Jack. "Well, at least I know it works perfectly." Then I had an idea. I contacted Roland on the ECHO as well. I was going to enjoy this.

"Did you get the voice modulator?" Roland asked me. I grinned before speaking.

"Roland! Long time no see buddy," I said in a chipper voice.

"Jack?! How the hell do you have Robert's ECHO?!" Roland yelled angrily. He sounded _pissed. _I then switched my voice to my regular tone.

"Like that. I got the voice modulator," I said in a cheerful tone.

"That was not cool," Roland said.

"But at least you know it works. Angel's got damn good information," I said.

"Yeah, she's kept her par of the bargain so far, surprisingly. As soon as you're done there, come on back and we'll steal ourselves a Vault Key," Roland said, making me smile.

"Hell yeah," I said, until I heard Angel scream in pain. My attention was instantly turned to her.

"What's wrong?! What's happening?!" I asked in a panic. That question was answered shortly.

"You seriously thought you could hide from me Angel? Is that what you thought? Say goodbye to your friend Angel. Say it," Jack said angrily. His anger wasn't anything compared to mine right now. My tattoos began to glow and my white wings were showing again.

"I'm gonna KILL YOU," I said viciously.

"I'm alright. Focus on the job at hand. Remember, he still needs me alive. And remember- do not let Lilith into my chambers. There's a chance he could..." Angel said before her voice was cut off.

"Angel? Angel?!" I yelled worriedly. I roared in frustration and anger before instantly contacted Krieg.

"Whatever you're doing, hurry the fuck up! We need to go for the Control Core. NOW!" I yelled.

"Calm down. What-" Krieg started before I cut him off.

"No time to fucking explain! Get your ass over here quickly otherwise I'm gonna drag you over here myself!" I yelled.

"Ok, ok. Don't blow a fuse. I just uploaded the footage. I'll be there ASAP," Krieg said, making me teleport to him before grabbing him and teleporting back to the Fast Travel. "Or you could do that."

"Come on. Angel is in trouble," I said, instantly traveling to Sanctuary. "I'm coming to save you."

* * *

A/N: Well, my character has suddenly turned into the valiant knight in shining armor. A very angry and more destructive version of one. Anyone, we're going to do the raid on Control Core Angel in the next part! Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! It was pretty long, but I got it done!


	19. Chapter 19- A Fatal Blow

A/N: This chapter is covering the entire raid on Control Core Angel and the aftermath. I can tell you this much. The occasion will not be joyous for many people after this. I'm sure all of you know why.

* * *

I instantly teleported me and Krieg up to the Crimson Raiders headquarters as soon as the Fast Travel took us to Sanctuary and was in was next to Roland in an instant.

"We need to go. NOW," I stressed to Roland.

"Are you alright?" Roland asked me with a concerned voice.

"Yeah. We just need to get up to the Control Core," I said, trying to hide my worry.

"He's hiding how worried he is. But now's the perfect time to go. We have everything we need to raid the place, and right now, I don't think he's going to wait for you," Krieg told Roland.

"Duly noted. This is it everybody. Lilith, Mordecai? You're protecting the city. Brick'll provide air support from Thousand Cuts, and I'll climb Control Core from the cliff face. Any questions?" Roland asked.

"Yeah, why ain't I going? I got to pay Hyperion back for Bloodwing," Mordecai stated. I agreed with that question. Mordecai deserve payback just as much as anyone else here.

"And you will, but right now I need you protecting Sanctuary in case this is another trap. You'll get your payback Mordecai. I promise," Roland assured Mordecai.

"Long as you say so Roland," Mordecai said.

"Robert, Krieg. We have a shot at stealing the Vault Key, and stopping the Jack from waking The Warrior. All you have to do is get past a force field that'll atomize you, destroy a bunker carrying enough firepower to level a continent, and get through a door you can't possibly open," Roland said in an as-a-matter of fact voice.

"That's his way of saying, 'we're probably gonna die,'" Mordecai said.

"I don't give a damn what's in my way. _THEY'RE NOT GOING TO STOP ME," _I growled viciously as my eyes glowed. Roland even took a step back from me.

"Calm down. Save it for Jack," Krieg said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and the glow on my eyes faded.

"Now get to Claptrap. We need him to shut down the force field," Roland said.

"Make it painful guys," Lilith told me.

"My pleasure," me and Krieg said at the same time. Though Krieg had a sadistic grin on his face. My face was filled with a cold fury. I was taking this seriously. No joking around.

"This is gonna be fun!" Brick yelled while laughing.

I instantly teleported to Claptrap and before I could even speak, Claptrap decided to talk first.

"Let's go to Thousand Cuts," he said.

"That was easier than expected," I said surprised.

"Jack had got to be stopped. For all of the Claptraps he destroyed!" Claptrap yelled. In an instant, I teleported us all in front of the force field with no regard to how tiring it was going to be. Strangely enough, it didn't faze me.

"Unlock the force field," I said darkly.

"You're a lot more angry than last time," Claptrap said, walking through the shield. "Hey, you coming or not?"

"Uh, we can't," Krieg told him.

"Oh. Right. Neither of you are Hyperion robots. I forget that sometimes," Claptrap said before deactivating the shield. "And... open! Onward!"

"Brick, you ready?" I asked over the ECHO.

"Got some buzzards heading your way Slabs!" Brick exclaimed.

"They shoot at me, they can join the Hyperion bodies," I snarled, before quickly striding up.

"Don't worry. They want to kill Jack more then they want to kill you. Plus, they know that you like killing Hyperion soldiers a lot, and they like you for that," Brick assured me. "At least, a certain bunch does. Some of them are insane and don't give a shit."

"That's good to know," I said dryly.

"I will defend you to the death minion!" Claptrap exclaimed. That was before the barricade was blown apart and a turret appeared to the left of me. I gestured my hand toward the right and threw a Phasebomb at it, blasting it to bits.

"OH GOD! NO I WON'T!" Claptrap yelled, running off and cloaking.

Krieg ran past me while I teleported in the middle of the area and charged my fist full of corrosive energy and punched the ground. It sent a shockwave throughout the area and started melting through a bunch of the enemies in the area.

"Oh, you made it passed the security wall, huh? That's, ah, that's real cute. Course the bunker's still going to obliterate ya, but nonetheless, cute," Jack told me.

"Screw you Jack. I'm taking the Vault Key and getting Angel out of here. Then you're next," I snarled.

"Stay focused!" Krieg yelled, slicing the arm off a JET loader.

I took a deep breath and threw a corrosive Phasebomb at the constructor, blasting it to bits.

"I don't have time this," I said, walking up to the door. As soon as I neared it, it opened and revealed 3 Hyperion soldiers running toward me. Krieg threw an axe into the head of one of them and I used my Emperor to fill one of them full of holes before Phasewalking in front of the other soldier and grabbing his head, imbuing my hands of corrosion. His head began to melt in my hands.

"Tell my wife... she's a bitch..." the soldier moaned on the way down. I shot him unnecessarily for that comment. I just wasn't in the mood today.

Me and Krieg walked forward and there were mortars dropping down on the area in front of us.

"Be careful Slabs! My boys have seen a ton of bad guys between you and the bunker! I know you can do it!" Brick exclaimed.

"You're goddamn right I will," I said, teleporting me and Krieg past all of the mortar areas and in front of another closed door.

"Take care of the guys behind us," I told Krieg while dodging the turret fire from the walls. He nodded and separated from me a few meters to start attacking the loaders.

"They ain't rolling out the welcome mat! Maybe you should take out those turrets on the towers so they'll open the doors," Brick told me. I hit each of the turrets with a few rounds of my Hornet and they were destroyed easily.

"Knock, knock bitches! Open up!" Brick yelled. Out came 3 Hyperion soldiers and a WAR loader. I tossed my MIRV grenade in the middle of the bunch and obliterated the soldiers. The WAR loader took superficial damage from the grenade, but a quick axe inside his eye made him fall to the ground.

Two surveyors started flying toward us and I Phaselocked one of them which was followed by one of Krieg's accurately tossed axes. The other surveyor started flying in a straight line directly toward me. I jumped in the air to meet it while dodging the ball of lightning it sent toward me and grabbed before throwing it down to the ground, smashing it.

We then went up the flight of stairs and there were 2 soldiers and 2 snipers waiting for me. Then I looked up and noticed something that immediately caught my attention.

"Badass incoming!" I yelled, gesturing up to the higher ledge.

"I'll show you what a badass is!" Krieg yelled, sounding more like his old, more insane self.

He then charged toward and all of a sudden, his features started becoming somewhat distorted while he roared in a deep voice. As quickly as it started, one of his arms grew gigantic and the other shrunk. I stared at Krieg's new transformation with wild eyes.

Krieg then charged forward and started swinging his axe like a madman. They tried to back away, but were inevitably shredded to pieces by Krieg.

I teleported to the top, a few meters away from the badass constructor. I jumped on top of the constructor as it was lifting up it's rocket launcher and ripped it off before stuffing it back down the socket and pinning a grenade to it as well.

I teleported on top of the stairs that were past the constructor as it blew up. Then arrived a group of 10 Hyperion solders. Five behind me, and five in front of me. They started to ignore Krieg, who was not too far behind the soldiers in front of me and started going from me. Guess Jack told them that I'm they're main priority. Slightly flattering.

"Fuck you!" I yelled. before thinking of a possibly very stupid idea.

Centering my power, I made 2 gigantic Phaselocks to suspend each of the groups. I then tossed a MIRV grenade under each of the Phaselocks and they all started exploding. I went into a kneel because that was very strenuous on me.

"Are you alright?" Angel asked, sounding worried.

"Fine. Just need to catch my breath," I said, standing up slowly.

"_What part of take it easy did you not understand?!" _Angel yelled, her voice sounding strained. I felt slightly ashamed of myself or pulling such a reckless stunt. I was going to need Eridium to have enough energy for this bunker fight. And it sounded especially dangerous for Sirens.

"I'm sorry," I said, sounding ashamed of myself.

"It's ok. I'm just... worried. Be careful," Angel said.

I continued up the stairs with Krieg next to me. He was back to his normal mode.

"Angel worried about you again?" Krieg asked.

"Yeah. That may have been a bit much on my part," I said.

"Let's just save your damsel and get the Vault Key. Then we deal with Jack. After that, we can finally have a life. But I'm certainly not giving up the mercenary life. You?" Krieg asked, as we walked toward the bunker. We killed everything they had to throw at us so far. So we were able to take an idle walk and talk.

"No. Got to make a living somehow in this world. Plus there's plenty of things that need to be done to help this planet," I explained. "What about you and Ivana? And then there's Tina. If she really is your daughter..."

"She is. I know it. And firstly, we'll have to work on getting over this as a family," Krieg said.

"Seems like a good place to start as any. And I'm here to help if you need it. Now, let's go get the Vault Key," I said, patting Krieg on the shoulder encouragingly. Before he could even get a word out, Jack started speaking up.

"Do you want to know how I got my hands on that Vault Key?" he asked.

"No, but I'm pretty sure you're going to tell us," I said idly.

"Me and Wilhelm paid a visit to your little friend Tannis. And we beat her for hours. We ripped it out of here broken fingers," Jack said excitedly before his voice become calmer and more diplomatic. "But, we let her live because that's what heroes do. They show mercy."

"Bullshit. You just wanted her to remember what you did to her. But I'm going to end the torture you have brought to this planet," I said, walking through the entrance to the bunker.

* * *

A/N: Little cut here. Everyone like how this is going so far? Hope so, because I am. Let's keep it going.

* * *

We went forward and we could hear the same buzzards that swarmed Thousand Cuts. Only this time, they were on our side.

"Eyes to the sky slabs! My boys are coming in!" Brick yelled.

"Thank your Slabs for the help! We could always use it!" I yelled over the roaring engines and gunfire. Me and Krieg ran forward to get up top to the bunker. Looking up, I saw that one of the buzzards got destroyed in the sky by what looked like Hyperion turrets. Those things were definitely anti-air.

"Take out those auto-cannons Slabs! They're tearing up your air support!" Brick yelled.

"Let's get up there quickly," I said, running forward through the bottom portion with Krieg behind me on my right. We then came across a giant blue force field blocking an entrance.

"That force field protects the final door to my chambers. It will only deactivate once you destroy the bunker. And you can't use any of your Siren powers while in the bunker's range," Angel told me.

"Well, good thing I know how to fight without them. Krieg, let's get the job done," I said, running forward and heading up the steps that led to the auto-cannons.

It was in the center of the platform, doing it's damndest to take out the buzzards that were trying raid their secured fortress.

I began hitting the back of the turret with my Hornet, and it was disabled quick.

"Hell yeah! One auto cannon down!" Brick praised.

Before we could even begin to count our blessings, two more auto cannons started appearing on 2 tiles slightly above us.

"Aw crap! Keep fighting Slabs! Bust those guns!" Brick exclaimed.

"We got this! Krieg! Use your corrosive SMG on these things. Hit the red switch on the back of it if you can," I told him, performing a flip onto the one of the platforms and hit one of the turrets point blank with my Hornet. The turret drooped and began to spark before exploding, to which I jumped off to avoid the explosion.

Krieg had taken out the auto cannon beside it by moving quicker than the turret and able to fill the red weak spot on the back of the turret full of holes. Then more auto turrets began to appear on the bridges. The buzzards were doing superficial damage to the turrets, but overall, they were being dropped like flies.

After a few minutes of dodging loader bullets, killing loaders and the turrets, they were all gone and our buzzards were clear to engage.

"Hahaha! No more auto cannons! Good job Slabs!" Brick exclaimed.

"Easy. Now let's blast this bunker to bits! Slabs!" I yelled on the ECHO.

"We read you loud and clear! You want us to blow shit up?!" one of the Slabs yelled excitedly.

"Of course. I wouldn't ask anything else. Blow that bunker to bits!" I yelled eagerly to the slabs which was followed by cheering. But that was before I could feel a rumbling around the place.

"Do you really think I'd protect Angel with nothing but a couple of bots and some flimsy turrets? You see, you're not at the bunker right now. The bunker isn't a place," Jack told me, the black formation taking into the skies.

"Oh shit," Krieg said, looking up at the bunker.

"_That's _the bunker. Meet the BNK3R, the greatest defense bot ever built. Designed her myself for human and Siren alike. Now do me a favor, and die," Jack said menacingly.

"Looks we got a fight on our hands," I said on the ECHO.

"Oh, CRAP! The bunker went airborne Slabs! This is going to get messy!" Brick yelled.

The BNK3R flew off into the air before coming back around to the left of the platform and brought up auto-cannons on it's hull.

Krieg began rapidly firing his SMG at the BNK3R's auto cannons and I used my Jakobs sniper to start firing at the series of red eyes. I had to strafe and duck to avoid some of the energy bursts that it was sending at me.

Krieg destroyed one of the turrets with little trouble before focusing his attention to the other. I was also hitting it in every red dot to the point where the lights were sputtering and having trouble staying on. There seemed to be an internal explosion from the BNK3R from one of my sniper shots and it decided to haul ass and fly off. It was way too far away to shoot and moving too fast to keep a bead on it. But I could faintly see a cannon on top of his hull. Couldn't identify it from this distance.

"Mortar fire! Mortar fire! Take cover!" Brick yelled at the same to the laser beam security was going off.

"Fuck you BNK3R," I said as I had to move all across the platform to avoid mortar fire and the lasers. Krieg was able to stay on one platform and avoid both of the traps. Unfortunately, I had to keep moving to avoid these threats so I wouldn't get fried or blown to pieces.

Once the mortar fire ceased, it came back around to the center and revealed a new weapon.

"Holy crap. That... is a big ass gun," Brick said in an amazed voice.

"No kidding," I said, as I swapped to my Emperor and tried to focus my aim on the red dots on the BNK3R. Next thing we knew, gigantic laser beams were being fired at us extremely quick, barely slow enough for us to dodge. He was playing with us to the max. I sincerely wanted to teleport up there and get rid of that gun, but I knew that wasn't an option.

I pulled out my Torgue rocket launcher and began hitting the red dots again. I then quickly switched to my sniper and hit the dot where I remember caused an internal explosion.

I pulled the trigger, and all of a sudden there was a bigger explosion before BNK3R began to make a sputtering sound.

"_Che-che-chunk-chunk," _was the strange sputtering sound coming from it. It was repeating it over and over and over again before it fell on a beam. I looked at it with a disbelieving expression. Did we just take it down that easy? Jack really needs to rethink where he puts the central core.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Brick laughed like an evil man. I had to admit, I liked it. There were shouts of victory from the Slabs and I high-fived Krieg. That was the last obstacle before the door that only Jack could open. I checked to make sure I still had the pocket watch in my pocket. Check. Then me an Krieg began looting the guns, Eridium, and cash falling out of the bunker. I was able to get a corrosive SMG labeled 'Plasma Caster' made by Tediore. Krieg was able to find a Jakobs sniper and pistol. Along with a Maylay shield for his abilities.

"With the bunker destroyed, you can access the door to my chambers. Move quickly," Angel urged me.

"I'll be there soon," I said, leaping off one of the ledges and down to the door.

"Preparing bio-scan. Please stand on the Hyperion emblem," the computerized voice said.

I stood completely still while Krieg waited outside. The blue beam ran up and down to check me. I closed my eyes and held my breath...

"Bio-signature confirmed. Hello sexy. Awaiting password," the computerized said, making me roll my eyes.

"The password is... I love you," Angel told me. I furrowed my eyebrows. That was a strange password.

"That voice modulator had better work, or this'll all be for nothing," Roland said.

I altered the dialogue on my voice to mimic Jack's. I waited a few seconds for it to sink in before I spoke.

"I love you," I said in Jack's flat voice before switching back to my own.

"Access granted," the voice said, making me fist pump.

"Consider this your final warn- no, consider this MY final warning. Turn around now, and I'll promise I'll make it quick. But you take one more step, every soul in Sanctuary will die staring at their own lungs as I rip them from their chests," Jack said viciously.

"There are several problems with this. Firstly, I came here for Angel and the Vault Key, and that's what I came here to get. Next, you've never been a man of your word, so you're speaking bullshit. Finally, there's nothing you can say that will intimidate me to getting off this path. Get ready Jack, because you've lost," I said viciously before turning off the ECHO contact and going down the elevator with Krieg next to me.

"You ready to meet her?" he asked me.

"Very much so. I've never felt this anxious," I said, my movements becoming restless.

"It'll be fine. You'll get her out of there, steal the Vault Key, after we kill Jack, you can lay her," Krieg said, making me punch him in the arm again.

"If we didn't probably have to deal with loaders down there, I would've broke it," I said, my cheeks red. But then Angel spoke up again.

"Eridium alone could never charge the key. It needs a catalyst, something to awaken it's power. It needs... a Siren," Angel told me.

"A Siren? He captured a Siren?" I asked.

"Yes. He acquired her long ago. Kept her hidden from the world for years, but finally, you will be able to set her free," Angel said.

"Consider it done," I said in a confident voice.

"I detect you're getting close. Hurry and reach me. You must get the Vault Key, and... deal with me," Angel said. I did not like the sound of that.

"Deal with you how?" I asked.

"Get here and I'll explain," Angel told me, making me slightly worried.

I walked inside and quickly made my way toward Angel. The entire area looked very futuristic. Like we were on an advanced space station. I walked to the center of a platform ahead of us and hit the button.

"Executing Phase shift," Angel said, before the walls and switch dissolved and appeared like we were in cyberspace.

"The hell?" Krieg asked. Then we say that the Vault Key appeared in midair.

"The key is here, but..." Angel hesitated.

"What?" I asked.

"To truly stop Jack from awakening the warrior, you must destroy his catalyst. You must destroy..." Angel trailed off before the woman in question appeared in midair.

She didn't quite look like the woman in the images she sent me, which was expected, but I could see the differences. There was hair missing on the right side of her head and her features looked worn and tired. Her eyes were black all around the sockets, like constant lack of sleep. She was wearing a type of skin tight bio suit with no sleeves and she had white wings appearing from her back like I normally have. I stared at her with a type of dreamy amazement.

"...me," Angel finished, which caught my attention instantly.

"Wait, what the hell do you mean by that?!" I yelled. Angel flinched from my harsh tone.

"I'm sorry, but this is how it has to be. Jack's spent years charging me full of Eridium, using me to charge the key, and manipulate his enemies. Destroying the Eridium injectors that keep me... alive, will stop the key from charging, and it will end a lifetime of servitude. Now..." Angel said, but I cut her off.

"No. There's got to be another way to do this. Once Jack's is dead, he literally can't charge the key, right?" I asked hopefully. But Angel shook her head solemnly.

"Remember what I said about excessive use of Eridium makes the body completely reliant on it? Well, I've been on it for years. I'll die 2 minutes off these tubes connected to me. There's no way around it," Angel said evenly. She had already accepted this. In a moment of impulsiveness, I went forward and pulled her into a tight hug. I definitely didn't want to let go anytime soon. Angel wrapped my hands around my back and there was a warm feeling I could feel in my gut. Why was it going to be short-lived?

"You get the hell away from my daughter!" Jack yelled, Angel suddenly being ripped from my arms. There was a bright light from where she was pulled at, but I followed without hesitation.

"Robert!" Krieg yelled after me. He then followed me to the main core.

It was a giant room where I could see the giant Eridium tubes on the ceiling and the protective reflective shield surrounding Angel.

"What the hell are you doing?! Angel!" Jack yelled.

"Stopping you, you piece of..." Angel said before Jack cut her off.

"Ah, language!" Jack said, spit in disgust at how he tried to be a father now.

"The Eridium injectors! Destroy them!" Angel exclaimed.

"As much as I hated to do it, I knew it was going to have to happen. Krieg started shooting at one of the Eridium injectors while I dealt with another. We managed to destroy them and Angel yelled in pain from it. My heart clenched on me when I heard it, but I knew it had to be done. But before we could get to the third one...

"Ah, no you don't! S-shields up!" Jack said, his voice trembling slightly. He sounded scared.

"No! I'll try to expose the injectors! Just hold on!" Angel told me. To be honest, I wasn't eager to bring death to one I had began to love.

"Bandits, if you keep this up, I'm heading down there to blow your brains out myself! You hear me!" Jack yelled, sounding angry and distraught.

"I welcome it, you son of a bitch," I said viciously. I hated him for doing this to his own daughter. Regardless of how I felt about her, he deserved to die for this.

"He's lying! The coward would never face you in person!" Angel told me as red alarms started going off and loaders began digi-structing.

"This I don't deny," I said before accidently stepping in some of the Eridium runoff from the pipes we destroyed. It surged through my body and a corrosive nova blasted throughout the entire arena. Strangely enough, when it went towards Krieg, it swerved around him and then went past. It easy blasted apart those loaders.

"I can't stop Jack's defenses! Be careful!" Angel told me worriedly. "I'll help you however I can!"

"Any help is appreciated," I said gratefully.

"How ya doing?" I heard a voice say. Then with a shock, I noticed that it was Lilith who arrived.

"Lilith, you weren't supposed to come here," I said in a subdued tone.

"Yeah, and I didn't listen! Come on, you really think I'm going to listen to Angel who tried to kill us? Hardly," Lilith said.

"I think it might have been better of you to listen to Angel, the same woman who's telling us to kill her so Jack can't charge the Key," I snapped at Lilith angrily.

"What?" Lilith asked shocked.

"Whatever. You're here, so make yourself useful," I said moodily. "Angel, is there any way to disable the shield?"

"Yes, there's a panel up at the top where the injector is," Angel told me. I sighed. I kind of wished she said no.

"I'll take care of it. Krieg, keep me covered," I said.

"Always," he said, holding his SMG on his shoulder I teleported to the panel. I began fooling around with the panel and began figuring out what I need to do.

"Hey! Up here! Need a hand?!" Roland yelled.

I waved at him to come toward me. He used the light bridge to get over to me and we began looking at the panels.

"I forgot to give these to you before you left, but here are your turrets," Roland said, handing me the Dahl Sabre turrets. "Every attachment is on there. Rockets, shield generator, the works. I admit, I had fun building it."

"Thanks. This'll really come in handy," I said, putting them in my ECHO. "Ok, as much as it pains me to say this, I wish Claptrap was here. He'd be able to get through this in seconds."

"Let's see if we can get through the security. Do you know how to hack?" Roland asked me.

"Learned from my dad. I graduated to very hard encryptions before... you know," I said, looking away. It was still painful to bring up.

"As awkward as this may sound, no I don't know," Roland said.

"Jack sent their heads to me in a box," I said, doing my best to focus on the terminal.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Roland told me.

"It's fine. I'm trying not to live in the past," I said, typing at a rate of 200 per minute to try and get through the terminal.

"Please. Okay. Are you hearing me? Please don't kill my baby girl," Jack said desperately. His voice sounded worried, scared even. He sounded like a distressed father. But I knew better. No good father would do this to their own daughter. But as much as I hated him, I didn't want to do this either.

"Can you both hurry it up?" Krieg asked.

"I'm sorry. Look, do you know how to hack terminals?" I asked him bitingly.

"No," Krieg said awkwardly as he threw an axe into a loader's eye.

"Didn't think so," I said, continuing to type. After a few more seconds, I was able to get through the terminal. Hyperion security wasn't as good as you might think. I jumped off the ledge as the shield went down.

"Don't you know what you're DOING! Who cares about the goddamn Key?! You're going to end the life on an innocent girl!" Jack yelled. I hated to admit that he was right. Killing Angel sounded incredibly horrible. At least to me in particular.

"He's right," I said, lowering my gun and looking down at the ground.

"Robert, Jack ended my life long ago. This has to end NOW," Angel stressed. I closed my eyes tightly. I couldn't bear to do it myself. Then I could feel a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"It's better you do it. You're the one who cares about her the most. At least she'll know you did this because you care," Krieg told me.

I looked at the ground with a sad look before closing my eyes. A tear trailed my right eye as I shot the last injector.

I could see Angel was floating down as the injectors were eased out of her body. I was there in an instant and was kneeling as I had her head on my leg.

"It's done... It's finally done... Thank you..." Angel said, placing a gentle hand on my face.

"I wish things could've been different," I said softly.

"So did I. I love you. I know this isn't the best time to say it, but I do. You actually cared about me and my wellbeing as well as others. You're an amazing man and you deserve a wonderful life. But I can't go with you," Angel told me.

"Why does it have to end like this? I loved you too. I wanted to know you as a person. Not the person who helped me defeat a tyrant," I said, stroking her cheek. I could feel that the others were behind me, but I didn't care. For me, nothing else mattered.

"Angel, you can stop this! I'll still forgive you baby!" Jack said desperately.

Angel pulled me closer to her and her lips made contact with mine. I closed my eyes and deepened the kiss. Angel seemed to lean back and her breathed became more ragged.

"Dad, I have to tell you something..." Angel said, struggling to keep her eyes open. "You're an asshole." Her body went limp and lifeless and I did my best to hold in my tears.

"Angel?! No Angel!" Jack yelled.

I bowed my head in defeat and lifted Angel up in my arms and stepped down carrying Angel down the ledge.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Lilith said softly.

I nodded solemnly and began walking toward the exit. I had nothing else to say. Krieg followed me and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. He seemed to have a type of silent understanding.

"What kind of person would do this to their own daughter?" I could hear Lilith asked.

"The kind of guy that deserves to die," Roland said, making me never have heard truer words in my life. "We got the Vault Key, but this isn't over yet. We got to find Jack and take him out. Lilith, take the Vault Key to Tannis. I'm going after Jac-"

That was the last thing I heard before I heard a gunshot ring out. I turned around to see that Roland had a hole through his chest with Jack behind him holding a Jakobs pistol.

"ROLAND!" Lilith screamed hysterically.

"Sup," Jack said. I wanted to rip him apart right then and there, but my position wasn't very good. Neither was Krieg's.

"You bastard! I'm gonna..." Lilith said before Jack slapped a collar onto her neck.

"Ah, tut tut. Language," Jack said before looking at us. "What's that saying? Don't pick a fight with a man with nothing left to lose? See, I'm going to show you just how much you have to lose. And I got the most powerful Siren on the planet do it with. Lilith, kill the Vault Hunters. We got a date to keep with The Warrior," Jack said as Lilith raised and hand while screaming. "Do it Lilith."

While I had one hand holding Angel and the other was free, I manipulated my Phaselock into a more behavior altering attack. It was to teleport us instead of kill us. Jack seemed to observe this turn of events with a shocked expression as I was glowing white when I did this.

"NO!" Lilith yelled before we disappeared in a flash of purple light. We ended up in what looked like a gun store room.

"What happened? What the HELL just happened?! First Bloodwing, now this?! Robert, Krieg, find me in Sanctuary. We got to get Lilith back!" Mordecai exclaimed.

I can't believed that just happened. Jack was able to kill Roland, capture Lilith, and take the Vault Key back all in one move while we stood by, powerless to do anything. It's likely he would've killed Lilith if we tried anything.

We walked into the store room and there were chests and all kind of crates everywhere. But I looked at it all with a disinterested look before looking at the dead loved one in my arms. Tears ran down my face the longer I looked.

"You ok?" Krieg asked me in a soft voice.

"No. No I'm not," I said, walking off. "Loot the place if you want. I have no interest in it." Krieg seemed to stand there as if he was a statue as I walked off.

I walked out of the store room and noticed that Marcus had come back here.

"What the- How'd the hell you get back there? Ugh, friggin' Vault Hunters," Marcus said.

"It's fine. I didn't take anything. Can't say the same for Krieg though," I said, walking out of the exit and back to the city. I was walking at a slow, funeral march pace. I could hear that a lot of the denizens of Sanctuary go quiet as I walked past them.

I walked up the stairs and to the command center, seeing that Mordecai and Brick were waiting for me. I laid Angel's body on the central panel. I stiffened with trying to hold back my tears.

"What happened?" Mordecai asked.

At his words, I began to choke on sobs as I buried my face on Angel's body and began to cry like I had just lost 30 years off my age.

_"People you love tend to die on you, don't they?" _I could hear Jack taunting me in my head. I had no anger for the thought. Just pitiful sadness as I knew it was true.

"I think he needs a minute," Brick said to Mordecai. Then I could hear their footsteps depart the room.

"What the fuck did I do to deserve this?" I said, my voice muffled.

* * *

A/N: I'm not gonna lie. I almost cried while writing this chapter. Don't fucking judge me. But as you can see, things are very shitty right now. But it's almost impossible for it to get worse. Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter. I'll see you when I feel like typing. I'm getting real lazy cause it's summer, but I'm still going to write. Believe me on that!


	20. Chapter 20- The Truth About Hyperion

A/N: Well, I did say the occasion wouldn't be joyous the next time and I kept that promise. Now we're going to cover the Arid Nexus area. (There will be no Sawtooth Cauldron) Let's go ahead and move ahead. WARNING: It gets a little dark. There might be a few mistakes, but I was half asleep while editing this.

* * *

I was silent as I wrapped Angel's body in sheets that the people of Sanctuary provided me with. I was silent as I built a coffin for her to lie in. I was silent as I dug a hole for her to lie in. There was enough ground under the city for it to be 6 feet. Krieg wanted to help me do this, but I insisted on doing it myself. It's one way I can convince myself I did _something _for her.

I kneeled at her grave which was set meters away from the edge of the city. I clenched my fists tightly before feeling a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," Krieg said.

"I couldn't save her Krieg," I said, my tone dripping with self-hatred.

"No one could've. You may be a powerful Siren, but you are still mortal. You can't save everyone," Krieg said, which set me off there.

"I can't save everyone? I can't save anyone! All I'm good for is fucking killing! That's it!" I said, standing up and holding my hands out.

"You can't save anyone? What about my wife? What about the Siren you saved? What about Hammerlock? Claptrap? This city? _You _did that. You saved many lives. Don't count them all out because you couldn't save a few. They were out of your hands," Krieg explained to me. I listened to his words intently and heard the logic in his words.

"I know you're right. Still doesn't make me feel better," I said, falling to my knees again.

"I know it doesn't. But we need you now. You are the one to turn the tide in this war. We're just along for the ride," Krieg told me.

"I'll finish Jack. But after that, I might hang my guns up. This life seems to only get worse the more I do it," I said.

"You deserve the peace. It actually sounds like a good idea," Krieg said, making me nod solemnly. "Now let's get this son of a bitch."

"Count me in," a voice said.

I turned my head to spot the Siren we rescued from the Preserve. I remembered her name was Maya.

"Can you fight?" I asked.

"I can hold my own, but I should be worried about you. You look like shit," Maya told me.

"Pandoran weeks of no sleep and having of all Hyperion on your ass does that to you. So yeah, I do look like shit," I said forcefully. Before she could even respond to that, I handed her my Hellfire SMG and a Tediore recharge shield. I then walked off to the Crimson Raider base and talked to Mordecai.

"Look Robert, about Angel..." he started, but I cut him off.

"It's fine. You got any ideas on how to find where the Warrior is buried? Any information libraries or anything like that?" I asked him.

"The Hyperion info stockade. Everything runs through the stockade. It's likely the location of the Warrior will be there too. Get to the Arid Nexus and get to the Stockade," Mordecai told me. "There's something else that I want you to know. You been listening to those Hyperion broadcasts by Hunter Hellquist that says you're killing kids and kicking puppies? I found they guy who's recording them. He's in the Arid Nexus. Pay him a visit and set the record straight."

"I'll do that once I get there. Anything else?" I asked.

"Yeah," Mordecai said, handing me a lager. "You need it more than I do."

"Thanks," I said, walking out and drinking it on the way. The burning sensation in my throat, tangy taste, and slight lightheadedness really was appealing. Krieg eyed me as soon as I finished my lager and threw it into the street.

"You look you have a plan," Krieg said.

"I do. At least for Hunter Hellquist. Hyperion will lose some of that public opinion after today. Get to The Dust. We need to get to the Eridium Blight before we can get to the Nexus. I don't feel like teleporting unless I absolutely have to," I said evenly.

"Got it," Krieg said before I could hear Jack on the ECHO.

"People of Pandora... my daughter is dead... murdered... by the Vault Hunter Robert Morgan. So I've decided... I'm rescinding the bounty on him. If you should kill that child murdering son of a bitch before I do, I will find you. And you will regret denying me my vengeance," Jack said over the ECHO.

I stood there, steam practically emitting from my head.

_"How dare he?! How dare he!" _I snarled, my eyes glowing. "You were the cause of her death because you're a small, selfish, malicious, and cowardly son of a bitch!" In this case, not even Krieg dared to touch me.

I took deep, rapid breaths in an attempt to calm myself down, but it didn't help much. But my tattoos did fade. I was at least that calm.

We then Fast Traveled to The Dust. I was the driver while Krieg was in the turret and Maya in the back shooting. I stayed quiet the entire time on our trip to Eridium Blight. Krieg also stayed quiet and Maya wasn't one for conversation.

The Eridium Blight was... well, completely covered in Eridium runoff from the Vault. I'm guessing this was very prominent for mining Eridium.

"Welcome to the Eridium Blight. Before Jack, this place was... well, it was still a craphole, but it wasn't THIS bad," Mordecai told me.

"I'm sure," Krieg said idly.

I continued driving toward the area toward the Eridium Blight. There was a turret on the side of the door, to which my response was to throw an idle Phasebomb at it and blast it to pieces before going through the door. We passed a bunch of Bullymongs that jumped down from their perches when they saw our car passing by. Then we began nearing the entrance to the Stockade.

"Intruders detected. Locking path to info Stockade," the computerized voice said, the bridge lowering.

"Mordecai, the path to the Info Stockade is blocked. I'm going to have to teleport us inside," I said.

"Jack must not want us getting close to him. Get the info on the whereabouts of The Warrior as quickly as you can," Mordecai said as Krieg destroyed the turret on the side.

"Out of the car both of you. It take more effort to not take the car," I said in an emotionless tone.

Krieg and Maya then exited the car the same time I did and I teleported us to the Badlands area of the Arid Nexus.

"This the place?" Krieg asked me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, it is. I'm going to take care of Hunter Hellquist. The Stockade is up there," I said, pointing at the tower. "Get to it. I might be done when you get back. Just meet me in Sanctuary." I then teleported up to Hunter Hellquist's tower.

"This just in Pandora... The bandit scum who just killed Jack's daughter has just set the New Haven orphanage ablaze, and..." At that point I opened the door and cut the transmission to his broadcast. I then looked at him with the type of insane smile that a psycho would give you while tilting my head and pulling out my knife with it hanging out my side.

Then I began to laugh. It was a demented, insane laugh that could run a chill down someone's spine. By the look on Hunter Hellquist's face, it definitely worked.

"It's you! Die, bandit scum!" he said, retreating back and shooting me. I was in front of him in an instant and cut his communications to prevent him from calling back-up. I took his gun and shield off him and stood over him with a boot on his chest.

"Go ahead and kill me scum," he said spitefully. I shook my head while keeping the same demented smile.

"No," I said chuckling. "No, I'm going to have my fun first." And then began the torture.

I raised my blade and began sawing one of his fingers off slow and deliberate like I was sawing a piece of wood. He screamed in pain and tried to cradle his stumps, but I stood on that hand while brandishing the blade in mid-air.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" I asked rhetorically.

"Fuck yo- AGHHHHHHHH!" he yelled as I stuck my thumb in his right eye and dug deep. He threw his head back and his scream could've carried on for miles, but there was no one to hear him.

"What was that? That was the sound of you being half blind," I said, as I gestured my thumb up and scooped the eyeball out before crushing it in my hand. I tilted my hand and looked at his whimpering body.

"Please..." he whimpered.

"Please? You want mercy?" I asked, putting my hand to my ear as if I was hard of hearing.

"Please..." he said.

"Where was the mercy for my parents when you sent their heads to me in a box? Where was the mercy for Bloodwing when you helped blew her head to pieces? Where was the mercy when you've had each and every inhabitant on this planet suffer because of your cruelty? Your boss took nearly everything from me! My family! Friends! My love! And there's no way to get them back! Ever! You're the reason I'm the cruel, cynic son of a bitch that you see now. And you will all suffer for it," I said as I sliced his eyelid in half.

His pupil wasn't visible and his eye was bleeding like crazy. That was before I took my knife and jammed it in his eye and dug around like I was unclogging a toilet. I removed the blade before punching him down to the ground and broke his jaw. I stuck my hand through his gut and removed one of his liver. His body came closer together like he was about to curl into a ball, but he didn't quite make it. He coughed up blood I simply shook my head.

"Don't worry. You still got your other liver. But you won't have much of anything else when I'm done," I said chopping of his legs. I then reached into his chest and ripped out his heart before crushing it over his body and covering his face in the blood.

"Blood for blood. Your debt has been paid. But there are still more to be claimed," I said as I used my ECHO to alter my voice. "Luckily Angel was so thorough with her searches." I changed my voice to Hunter Hellquist and tested the speech.

"Time to rewrite history," I said before I cut the ECHO broadcast on.

_"And now with the last edition of 'This Just In' with Hunter Hellquist,"_ the opening statement. I sighed to build dramatic attention.

"People of Pandora... I must first start my last transmission with an apology. I'm sorry for lying to all of you. What I've been telling you, hasn't been necessarily truthful. (Get ready, this is going to be long) Jack, Hyperion, has been lying to you. The Vault Hunters have been on the good side this entire time. Jack is seeking to control Pandora with an iron fist rather than bring peace to it. He seeks open the Vault to control an Eridian warrior to destroy all life on Pandora and rebuild it to how he sees fit. Regarding Jack's daughter, Jack enslaved her and because of the condition in her slavery, she was in a condition to where she was going to die, regardless of any help that was brought for her. As crazy as it sounds, Angel and one of the Vault Hunters loved each other. She aided him to try and kill Jack because even she hated him for how corrupt he was. Jack anted me to portray the story in that light to shed negative attention on the Vault Hunter so you, the people, would hate him and you would think he was still on the wrong side of this war, but he's not. Don't trust Handsome Jack. He's a selfish bastard and deserves to die. I did it because I was greedy, but I knew I was wrong and it was time I came clean. And Hyperion, if you're listening, I'll be dead before you get here," I said, firing a gunshot to pretend like he committed suicide. I then changed my voice back to normal and cut the transmission off.

I then teleported back to the Badlands to see Krieg and Maya's progress. I could still hear distant gunshots, so they obviously weren't finished. I laid out of on the ground and rested. I yawned and when I blinked, I could see Angel in front of me. She was smiling and giggling adorably. Her hair was whole, her face was full and clear, and she was happier than I've seen her.

"Think of the possibilities if I was here! We could be in Sanctuary actually talking and getting to know one another! Making a life!" she said, spinning around with her arms out like she was a ballerina. "But alas, you could not save me." Tears began falling down my face again while crawling toward her.

"I'm sorry," I said, my tone full of grief. "I'm so sorry... You deserved better..." I held a hand out toward her when I blinked and all of a sudden Krieg was there and he started rushing toward me.

"What happened?" he asked me. I stood up before shaking my head to try and snap out of my daze.

"It's nothing. The lack of sleep is getting to me. I trust you got the info?" I asked. Krieg held out an ECHO recorder.

It's all in here. You dealt with Hunter Hellquist?" he asked.

"Yeah. We won't have problems from him anymore. Where is The Warrior?" I asked.

"In Hero's Pass. Mordecai suggested we get back to Sanctuary for the final assault," Krieg said.

"Couldn't agree more. Let's get back," I said, using the Fast Travel station to head back. But I never heard the conversation Maya and Krieg had.

"Is he alright?" Maya asked.

"No. He's lost a lot to this man. His family, a friend, and now a loved one. He hasn't slept for weeks. As strong as he is, he's about to reach his limit. There's only so much the mind can take," Krieg said.

"Damn. I didn't know it was like this for him. He looked like a collected gentlemen. At least when he rescued me," Maya said.

"That's before he lost her. So if he seems troubled, remember all he's been through," Krieg told her.

Maya nodded and they traveled back to Sanctuary. The final battle was coming. And before the day was over, true power was going to be unraveled.

* * *

A/N: Fairly small chapter, but I knew I could cut out Sawtooth Cauldron and make the Arid Nexus adventure quick. I also would like to know what did you think about what I did with Hunter Hellquist. I figured it would turn a lot of people against Jack if I did that. So my character turned some opinions around as far as this war. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed!


	21. Chapter 21- Down with Jack

A/N: We're reaching Hero's Pass to kill Jack and deal with The Warrior! I'm so hype! There will be a few more side missions to this story before I end the story and start the DLCs. Speaking of which, there will in fact be other DLCs. I'll be doing Wam Bam Island and Mercenary Day as well. Mercenary Day should be a small one to three chapter story. Just thought I'd like to give that an update. I'm also going to go through and rename the chapters. I don't know why, but I just want to. Look at them if you want to. Whatever. Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

I walked up to the main base with a strong stride with Krieg and Maya behind me.

My eyes were filled with a cold fury that I never knew existed in man or machine. Krieg told me that the Warrior's location was in Hero's Pass, and that's where we were going to stop Jack. I walked up to Mordecai and I looked at him with a knowing look.

"This. Ends. Now," Mordecai said in a rough tone. I nodded and had my arms crossed while looking at him with the same cold fury I had when I walked inside. I was still restraining myself from teleporting there and taking on the bastards myself.

"Jack, Lilith, and The Warrior are in Hero's Pass. So that's where we're headed. This is the final fight amigo - if you gotta to prepare, do it now. Go check around the city. These people don't have much, but they still want to help you," Mordecai told me.

"Noted," I said simply.

"Hyperion's locked the entrance to Hero's Pass. Get back to Claptrap; you'll need him to open the way for you. Brick and I will meet you once you're in. Win or lose, we're going to finish this together For Bloodwing. For Roland. For Pandora!" Mordecai exclaimed.

I turned to Krieg and Maya with an even expression.

"Start asking around. You guys need the gear more than I do," I said, rubbing my eyes slightly.

"You need rest more than we do. Look at you. You're eyes are bloodshot, you got enough bags to pack yourself in them, and you look so weary,"  
Krieg told me. I looked at him with an angry look.

"And you think I give a shit? I've been going through the last few weeks like this. I'm not missing the final fight," I said furiously.

"I know, but..."

"END of discussion," I growled before walking out. I was not going to let this opportunity pass. He tells me to take a break _now? _

I went down the stairs and addressed Tannis.

"Jack's close to awaken the Warrior. All of us are going to Hero's Pass to stop him," I said.

"You've survived this long. Though it's unlikely you'll survive an encounter with a world destroying Warrior," Tannis said in a logical tone. "But even though I have trouble verbalizing words that will not utterly confuse or nauseate you, I find my mental processes are surprisingly focused. I have only two words for you - perhaps the most important two words ever spoken on Pandora: Kill. Jack."

While the words themselves sounded narcissist the way she said it, but I couldn't help but agree with her. Considering I don't know all of the words that were spoken on this planet.

"Here - this may help you in your efforts to but a hilariously large hole in Jack's face," Tannis said, handing me a type of glowing object shaped like a circle. I picked it up, and when I put it on, my arms felt considerably more solid and stronger. I guess these things had magical powers or something?

"I'm going to talk to Zed. Maya's gone to talk to Scooter. You can handle Marcus, Moxxi, and Hammerlock," Krieg told me.

"Yeah. I'll give you what gear you might need and I don't," I said, walking to Marcus' shop. I walked up to him and he seemed to already know what was up.

"Jack's monopoly on weapons is running me out of business. But that's not why I want him dead. I want him dead because he's a greedy, murdering son of a bitch(Pot meet kettle) who deserves to die screaming. Good luck," Marcus said in a cheerful voice. "Here. You might need this." He held out a Vladof assault rifle out to me with the fire element. I grabbed it and put in my inventory. It wouldn't do much good against loaders, but Maya could easily use it.

I walked out of his shop and started heading toward Moxxi's bar where Hammerlock and Moxxi were. I walked in the shop and instantly began to register Moxxi.

"Mordecai told us everything. About how this is the last raid. All or nothing," Moxxi said before I could say anything.

"Yeah. If you have anything to help out, that would be appreciated," I said evenly.

"Gladly. I've had just enough of that Handsome Jackass. Get rid of him, and you'll never have to pay for a drink in here again," Moxxi told me.

"I may just hold you to that," I said, thinking about the backlash that was sure as hell coming to me once this was over. If I survived.

She then pulled a slag Hyperion SMG out of her breasts(you expected it to be anywhere else?) and I grabbed it, as wary as I was of it. Luckily, this wasn't covered in cum.

I went over to Hammerlock and he faced me with a smile.

"Well old friend, I wish you the best of luck. May you return with Handsome blood on your hands, and a smile on your face!" he said, holding out a sniper rifle. "Oh, and in case I forget. Here you are. Thought it might be of some use." The sniper was Vladof with a shock element. I nodded respectively and left the bar.

"Sup sucka! It's Tina. I wrote you a poem and it goes like this. BREAK IT DOWN. Ahem. Kill Jack. Kill Jack. Kill Jack. Kill Jack. Kill Jack. KILL Jack. Kill Jack. A poem by Tiny Tina," Tina said on the ECHO. Even I had to smile a little at that 'poem' of hers, regardless of how shitty I felt.

I walked near the Fast Travel station and Krieg was standing next to Maya, waiting for me. I tossed the weapons I got from the others to Maya who was almost overwhelmed by the weight of all of them.

"Vengeance will be mine," I said in a tone full of malice before traveling to Eridium Blight. My patience to wait was gone and I just continued to Eridium Blight.

"You ever get that feeling where you're just aching to murder someone?" Jack asked me.

"I have it right now," I said in an angry tone.

"Haven't felt that in such a long time," Jack said, making me call bullshit on that one. He's murdered so much, but no more. He dies tonight.

I teleported and saw that Claptrap was waiting for me near a few ammo containers.

"This is it! Our vengeance is finally at hand! Let's tear this planet a new asshole! Yeah!" Claptrap said, flailing his arms and yelling. Personally, his vengeance pales before mine. I was willing to die to achieve mine. I'm pretty sure Claptrap can't say the same. Well, say the same and mean it.

"We're going to make Jack regret ever setting foot on Pandora! I'm going to get that door open, so I can take care of that Handsome bastard myself!" Claptrap exclaimed. Even though I doubted he would make it past one Hyperion soldier, I still wanted to make sure he knew this.

"Fuck off. He's mine," I said in a dark and menacing tone. Meaning that I would rip him apart if he didn't listen to me.

"Er... I'm gonna get the door open," Claptrap said meekly. He walked up, but then loaders started forming. "AHHH! Draw their fire with your face while I cloak my way over to the door controls! Invisible!" Then came the fight that I ached for.

I pulled out my Jakobs sniper and effortlessly shot the loaders in their eyes as they spawned. Quick and efficient is what I was looking for.

"Good job! I've uncloaked by the controls! Let me just get this door open!" Claptrap exclaimed while trying to hack the panel. I rolled my eyes.

"Execute Phase Shift," I said, placing my palm on the console. My mental influence was inserted inside the Hyperion database and I was looking to find a way to open the door. Even in death, Angel was a big help.

"Door access unavailable while security lockdown is active. Siren Suppressors engaged to prevent unwanted access. Loaders must be disabled for door access to be available," the computerized voice said.

"He's been busy," I said evenly as more loaders started showing up. Two of them on the platform near Claptrap and two more came out of doors.

I didn't have the mood to deal with all these loaders, so you know what I did?

"Turrets deployed," I said, tossing all 3 of my Dahl Sabre turrets out in the middle of the field. The only difference between them was one didn't have slag bullets. Regardless, the infinite rockets and the slag made quick work of the loaders. They were reduced to scrap metal in seconds without them even taking down any of the turret's shields.(In this case, they don't have a time limit until they deform. They have to be destroyed before I have to wait to use them again. It would make more sense then the way they were designed in the game. Though having 3 Dahl Sabre turrets with no shutting down until they're destroyed is OP as shit)

"YES! I've done it! Shutting down the door defenses down... NOW!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"Activating additional door defenses. Turrets deployed," the computerized voice said. As crazy as this was, I knew Claptrap was making progress. These were just additional fail safes. I'm thinking he's trying to send everything he's got at us to buy enough time to charge the Key. And I can't teleport past this door because of these damn Siren Suppressors. I was scared to think what would happen if I tried.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Claptrap yelled. I don't think there was a door that Claptrap couldn't open, so this was making him frustrated.

"These loaders are handled. Just focus on getting through the door," I said over the roaring of rockets, bullets, and loaders. Normally I would've taken care of these fools myself. But I don't have to waste bullets and we were in one spot the entire time, so this is where the turrets really shined.

I looked past everything and saw that Krieg and Maya had finally showed up. But they don't dare stand in the middle of the bullets and rockets flying everywhere. They would be hacked to pieces. Second winds or no.

So I settled for teleporting them over here and Krieg looked at me with crossed arms.

"Thanks for waiting for us," Krieg said sarcastically. I simply shrugged. Just wasn't in the mood. The turrets can go on forever, and I'm going to take this time to rest until those turrets run out. The shields were down, and they were smoking slightly, but still holding strong. The main problem were those damn turrets at the top. But it seems as if Claptrap heard me.

"I got an idea! I'm hacking those turrets so they'll fight for US!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"Please do so. It's the main thing that's eating up my turrets," I told him, looking up at the shielded monstrosities. The turrets were focused on the loaders more because they constantly kept coming. The Hyperion turrets weren't touched.

"Access denied," the computerized voice.

"Come on, baby, don't be like that. Gimme... those... TURRETS!" Claptrap yelled.

"Access... granted," the woman said. I was pretty surprised. What, did the Hyperon lady have a soft spot for Claptrap?

"Holy *bleep* IT ACTUALLY WORKED! The turrets are fighting for us now! I ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING!" Claptrap yelled. I shook my head at how surprised _he_ sounded when the Hyperion lady gave him access.

"I'm overriding the door locks! Just stay alive!" Claptrap told me. That was being pretty easy at the moment while my turrets were still kicking.

"How long before we actually do something?" Maya asked.

"Until those turrets are destroyed, or until Claptrap gets that door open and we have to move," I told her in an ever tone without even facing her.

"Dispatching additional troops," the woman said.

"How many of these guys are there?!" Claptrap asked in disbelief. "Badasses incoming!" Now, I was actually worried for my turrets. And then we had these stupid surveyors. They had no pattern for killing a target. They killed whoever the saw fit.

When the surveyor came flying toward me, I shot it out of the air with one quick shot from my Jakobs pistol, which stopped it in his tracks. I had to shoot it twice more to finish the job. Stupid thing had a shield.

There was a random explosion, and I looked to see one of my turrets had finally been destroyed. It was the one I took off Axton.

"AVOID the bullets! AVOID THEM!" Claptrap yelled.

"Thanks Captain Obvious!" Krieg yelled as one of the bullets came dangerously close to hitting him. He tossed one of his axes in the eye of a loader and it went down easy.

A badass was opening rocket launchers on his back and started launching them toward my turrets. My turrets would be demolished by the sheer power of them. So I had to think fast.

Focus a critical eye on the rockets, I shot specific ones in the air that would blow up their counterparts effectively. While managing to keep one bullet in my mag. Sometimes it felt like my eyes were mechanical from how accurate they are.

"Reinforcements... depleted," the computer voice said. My eyes widened. They were out of loaders to kill us?

"Don't worry baby! Happens to a lot of girls!" Claptrap exclaimed.

Maya looked at Claptrap strangely before looking at me. I rolled my eyes and moved my finger in a circular motion on the side of my head, indicating that I thought the robot was crazy.

"AAAAAAAAAAND! OPEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN!" Claptrap yelled, rolling to the center of the platform to address us.

"We did it! Jack thought he could stop us with a door? HA! I was MADE to open doors!" Claptrap exclaimed.

"Rethink that statement as you look at the mound of scrap metal behind you," Krieg said, jerking his thumb behind him. But Claptrap seemed to be in his own little world.

"There's no stopping us now! Together we shall free Pandora! I shall lead you into battle. I will..." Claptrap seemed to rethink that statement once the doors opened. "STAIRS?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I don't know what made me do it. Maybe it was because I was going crazy or I was trying to find humor in... something, but I started laughing.

It started off as a small little chuckle, but then it began to grow. And grow. And grow. And the laugh sounded insane. Sort of like Krieg did before he 'found his voice.' (Leaning more on the way the Joker would laugh after killing someone) Sooner or later I couldn't breathe as I was on the floor laughing. I could feel eyes on me and I knew that Krieg and Maya were looking at me strangely.

"He's losing it," Krieg said evenly. (And this is Krieg we're talking about here. The man who knows all about that)

I wiped the tears from laughing and faced Maya and Krieg, who looked at me strangely. I chuckled slightly.

"What the fuck is wrong with me? Alright, let's go," I said, heading up the stairs. But I could hear Claptrap as I walked up the stairs.

"Dammit, Jack - how did you know stairs were my ONLY weakness?! Next to electrocution, and explosions, and gunfire, rust..." His voice begin to fade at that point and I was heading into Hero's Pass.

"Hmm, you feel that child-killer? The Key's nearly charged! This world is gonna end!" Jack yelled. Ok, he brought back the cold rage that I had when I was coming here.

I ran forward in a blind rage with my blade at my side. I ran up recklessly and my shield had even broken before I reached them, but that didn't stop me from taking the bullets they could dish out and slicing them all into pieces as quickly as I could. More loaders began to respawn and this time Krieg and Maya helped me handle them.

There was a PWR loader behind me and Maya hit his arms with the Vladof sniper I gave her. Krieg tossed an axe right past me and hit the GUN loader in the eye.

We continued forward to a narrow walkway and I could see a drop barge in front of me with turrets that started firing at us. Krieg instantly took the attention of the turrets, but then 3 Hyperion soldiers starting showing up. Then I noticed a red drop barge coming close. That did not look Hyperion.

"I'm here amigos!" Mordecai said.

"Slabs! Lemme get this out of the way!" Brick yelled, ramming the drop barge into the Hyperion one. It sent the thing tumbling down into the lava. I beheaded a sniper while Maya was preoccupied with one of the armored soldiers. She ended up grabbing his face and burning it to a crisp. Even the armor couldn't withstand that.

But then I saw Brick in the air with his fist gestured down. And he landed right on top of the remaining soldier. What wasn't smushed, I heard a satisfying crunch. I smiled.

"You get the HELL away from my friends!" Brick yelled over his corpse.

"Oh God, is he screaming again?" Mordecai asked.

"Yup. But it is what it is," I said, as Brick walked in front of a reflector shield.

"Dammit! We can't get through! Mordecai!" Brick yelled.

"Hold up! I got this!" Mordecai said, navigating his drop barge to change his sniping position. I noticed the drop barge had things like 'Down with Jack' and 'For Bloodwing' on it. Guess they took the opportunity to make the drop barge their own.

Mordecai obviously found the source of the shield and shot it down because there was an explosion followed by the shield disappearing. I stood in front of my 3 comrades on the ground with me.

"You all ready to kill this son of a bitch?" I said, my tone filled with fire.

"Hell yeah!" Krieg exclaimed, raising his axe in the air.

"He's as good as dead," Maya said, holding her sniper on her shoulder.

"You better believe it!" Brick yelled, looking toward the loaders that were dropping in on the other side. "Mordecai's in position, and my fists are hungry! Let's GO!"

Brick then began sprinting into a run with the rest of us trailing behind him. I felt warm on the inside knowing that my friends were right here beside me, helping me put an end to this fucker. I only hope I was able to land the killing blow on that Jackass. He damn near took everything from me. Today, he died.

A mortar strike took out the bridge in front of us, but that didn't stop us from easily jumping over it. (Half of the time I attempt that jump, I get blasted by a rocket and it sends me over the edge. Damn RPG loaders. lol)

"You won't enjoy this," Maya said, Phaselocking one of the loaders in mid-air.

Krieg leapt over the gap and sliced on of the loaders clean in half. Then went over to aid Brick with a couple of loaders that were attempting to surround and overwhelm him. (Overwhelm Brick? *chuckles* Yeah right)

I don't know how I knew, but I knew one of the loader drops was about to land on top of me, and I Phaselocked the loader in mid-air before he even formed.

"FUCK OFF!" I roared before holding my hands close to my chest before spreading them out wide in a powerful corrosive shockwave that broke the loader apart before he even melted.

A loader landed right next to me and I grabbed it by the legs before tossing it off the edge, watching it flip as it went down. I then followed everyone else up the stairs and I saw Mordecai slag one of the Hyperion soldiers I saw on the left.

"Boom skaglicker!" Mordecai said as I finished him with a Jakobs shot to the head.

There was a loader to the right of us, and there was a corrosive barrel next to him. Maya shot it with what looked liked Krieg's old Vladof pistol and the corrosion as well as the force of the barrel itself put him down easy.

"We got to push!" Brick yelled, ignoring the steps at the end of this walkway and jumping down.

"Enemy in range. Engaging auto cannons," the Hyperion woman said.

"Hate these fucking things," I said as I followed Brick's example and jumped down to get back into the fight.

"AGH!" Mordecai yelled. I noticed those auto cannons were firing at him and I guess on of them hit him and he had to move back.

Enraged by the thought, I teleported behind the auto cannons and literally ripped out from where they were planted and tossed them over the edge before roaring loudly. I was turning more and more primal as this battle went on. But I had more pressing matters.

"You alright?" I asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm alright. Nicked me on the shoulder. Give me a second and I'll be fine," Mordecai assured me.

"Robert! Heads up!" Krieg said, grabbing a soldier by his legs and tossing it toward me. I smiled.

"Thought you'd never ask!" I exclaimed happily before jumping in the air and kicking him off the ledge like he was a fucking soccer ball.

Brick performed a ground pound under a soldier that Maya had Phaselocked and smashed his legs. At least, all of the bones in them before stomping on his head and crushing it like it was a bug.

"That's for Roland!" Brick yelled at the soldier.

"Maya! You feeling lucky?" I asked as I grabbed a SGT loader by his arms and spun him around and tossed it towards Maya. With surprising strength on her part, she grabbed the loader out of midair and held it in her hands while imbuing her hands with Phase energy while her tattoos were glowing and it broke apart right after Mordecai sniped it with his Slag sniper. I sent Maya the thumbs up and she smiled.

"YEAH!" Mordecai yelled in a hyped up tone. I was actually smiling now. We were all working in perfect harmony and decimating these things without even trying.

Krieg took out the last loader on the right and then there were no more loaders or soldiers for the time being. But we had another shield in front of us.

"Shoot the door Mordy!" Brick yelled.

"I got to circle around to make the shot - just stay alive!" Mordecai told us.

"Doesn't seem that difficult," I said, standing in the center of the area, swapping to my Striker. Something told me more were going to show up.

Sure enough, more loaders were being launched on to the battlefield. Brick tackled the SGT loader that was launched in front of him and did a Spinebuster on it, breaking it to pieces.

"That's for the bird!" Brick yelled.

Then there were a few EXP loaders that came running up to us. I pulled Maya back from the explosion by her shoulders and dived out of the way to get us both out of the way.

"Thanks," she said. I gave her a two fingered salute.

"No problem," I said, hitting the gun arm of an RPG loader to get rid of those damned rockets. Brick forced his hand through the center of it and ripped it out forcefully, making the loader tumble while standing up, taking a bit of time to fall over.

Krieg had been busy in throwing a Tesla grenade in the center of the platform, wearing down that troublesome War loader. He finished it with a burst fire from the Jakobs Sledge's Shotgun he owned.

"Dispatching JET loaders," the Hyperion woman said. Fuck. Mordecai might be in trouble.

"Goddammit - we're taking fire! Just hold on!" Mordecai exclaimed.

Krieg sliced a SGT loader in half while Brick ripped the arms off another loader and bitch slapped it with them before sticking a thumb in its eye and disabling it.

"Over here Slabs! I'm up here!" Brick said after he jumped up to a platform near the shield.

"Boom, baby! The path is clear!" Mordecai yelled. The shield wasn't down, so I was guessing it had a bit of delay on it. But sure enough, the shield went down and we were all clear to go ahead.

"Hell yeah!" Brick yelled. But then I saw that Mordecai's barge was being surrounded by JET loaders.

"Dammit - they're swarming me, Brick! Just leave me - keep going!" he yelled.

"Like hell! I got you Mordecai!" Brick said, about to take a leap and roaring with a battle cry. But Brick's fists were no good against enemies that could fly.

Before I could try to teleport, a soldier charged me and tackled me to the ground while placing a boot over my chest and holding the assault rifle in my face.

"Goodbye bandit," the soldier said.

My expression became angry as I grabbed the boot of the soldier and twisted so hard, I broke it and you could hear a loud, distinctive crunch. Then I punched him in the balls so hard, I could hear a squish and I knew they were busted. Armor or no, I could punch hard when I was angry.

While the soldier was screaming in pain, Krieg sliced his head off and offered an arm to me to get up. I took it, and my attention was immediately averted to Mordecai and Brick on the barge. Maya was doing her best to get rid of some of the JET loaders that were swarming them, but they could move fast.

"Locking onto drop-barge. Commencing lunar bombardment," the Hyperion woman said. My heart froze in my chest as I knew what was going to happen after that. I made to teleport to them, to try to get them off, but I could feel a hand grab my shoulder.

"It's too late. Even for you," Krieg said solemnly.

"Crap! They got a lock on us!" Mordecai yelled.

"Just go Slabs! Go!" Brick yelled right as the lunar bomb hit the drop barge. Brick was roaring as the barge sunk into the lava. I sunk to my knees.

"No... Not again! NOT AGAIN!" I roared in rage as I pounded the ground as hard as I can. But it wouldn't bring them back. It wouldn't bring any of them back. I sunk my head in defeat and I could feel Krieg's hand on my shoulder.

"We got to keep moving. We'll make the bastard pay. But we got to keep going," Krieg said.

"They will pay," I said. But my voice was not my own. It was deeper and sounded like it was traveling down a long tunnel.

"What?" Krieg asked me. He sounded confused and a bit unnerved. I stood up slowly as I could feel my eyes beginning to glow.

"They will pay! All of them!" I roared in a voice that sounded less and less like myself and more and more like a demon.

My fists tightened into balls as I could my body go rigid. I could see a big flash of purple light before all that was left of thought process was blinding rage. At Hyperion. At Jack. They all had to die. Each and every one of them. They will PAY.

Suddenly my skin wasn't my own. It had turned into a hard rock like substance while moderately sized cracks were showing, a bright Eridium purple shining through it. (If you want a good summary, look up an image of Corrupted Shinnok from Mortal Kombat X with purple Eridian energy through the cracks on him instead of fire, and instead of the horns at the top, think of the black weave(or something among those lines) on the side of Predator's head(reference Alien vs Predator), except they are only at the back of the head and they're glowing with purple energy. If you have the imagination, you'll be able to piece it together. Wish I had someone to draw that for me. It would look so dope)

I let a loud deep roar that seemed to shake the rocky walls around this place before I continued forward.

"Insignificant worms!" I roared as I continued forward. There were a bunch of loaders in my path, but I threw Phasebombs around with the rate of a Vladof assault rifle. It obliterated anything that was 10 meters away to it. Holes were dug in the ground cause of the power. My powers were overcharged and I didn't even feel the least bit tired. Power and rage was my entire being. And it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Whatever I was, I wasn't human and I wasn't weak. Not by a long margin.

I blasted everything that came in my path from GUN loaders to fucking constructors. The Super Badass loader in a hangar? The Badass Constructor at the end of the area? All obliterated in the blink of an eye. Easily destroyed by the power I was wielding.

Where was Krieg and Maya? At the moment, I didn't care. Nothing mattered except killing Jack. I moved past the elevator and my feet weren't moving me. Somehow I was levitating without a care in the world.

"You're a plague bandit. You and you kind have corrupted Pandora with your greed and your hatred. It comes down to me to save this world from you kind. But I am more than happy to do it," Jack told me.

"Insignificant words from a weak man," I said in my deep and vicious voice.

"Who are you?" Jack asked me.

"The man you attempted to break. The man you attempted to kill. The man you damn near took everything from me. But I'm very willing to return the favor," I said, teleporting to Jack and I could see Lilith floating in the air, being forced to charge the Key. Jack then turned to face me with a different look. This one resembled fear.

"So it's you," Jack said, his voice even though his eyes were fearful. But there was something I found strange. He knew who I am. So why was he surprised who I was? Well, I may look different, but even then.

"Me. Get ready to die," I said. Jack chuckled.

"Well, you're right on time. Key's nearly ready. But before I cleanse this planet for good, I am going to avenge my daughter!" he told me, turning invisible. That sentence set me off.

"YOU TOOK HER FROM THIS WORLD! DEAD BEFORE SHE COULD MAKE A LIFE FOR HERSELF! BUT YOU WILL PAY FOR EVERY LIFE YOU'VE DESTROYED! ANGEL! ROLAND! MORDECAI! BRICK! ALL OF THEM!" I roared, my voice somehow growing even more demonic.

I was easily able to find him while he was invisible and punched him to where he was leaning on his console to support himself. I wasn't going to use guns or my Siren powers. No. I'm going to kill him with my bare hands.

He hit a button on the shield and a reflector shield was put up while a surveyor was flying around.

I laughed evilly before forcing my hand through the shield and grabbing him by the throat before tossing him into a rock formation that broke half of the structure.

"Weak. Even more pathetic than the scum you command," I said, my voice dripping with that sort of evil anger. It was raw, and ready to destroy.

Loaders dropped down from the moon station and began firing at me.

"Phase Strike!" I said, lifting my hand in the air as if I was summoning something from the heavens. Pretty accurate actually.

Falling from the sky, at the speed of light, was Dark energy that resided on the deep ends of space. It kills and destroys but holding pressurized energy that can break anything more effectively than Jack's lunar blitzes. Powerful, yet takes well developed power to do it.

Jack was retreating back, trying to shoot at me, but the bullets hit my rocky skin that was harder than Poly-Kryten and they easily bounced off. I laughed again at his feeble attempts to try and kill me, and I walked toward him and made energy claws on my right hand.

I sliced his stomach open and blood start dripping out of it before I started making minor and torturous cuts all over his body, even slicing his ears off. I then punched him in the face and his mask seemed to creak from the impact. I tore it off and looked him directly in the eye.

His face looked horrible. Seemingly, the Vault symbol was burned onto his face. His mask looked like his face, but his actual face was horribly disfigured. Regardless, I didn't care as I threw him toward the center, right beside where the Vault Key was being charged.

"That it? HUH?" Jack asked me.

"Haven't even begun scum," I said in a deep voice.

Then I noticed that the 3 parts of the Key had all of a sudden come together.

"No! The Key's charged!" Lilith yelled.

"I'm not dying yet!" Jack said, attempting to insert the Key, but I batted him away with my right arm and inserted the Key myself. "NO!"

"The Warrior is now mine to command!" I said, holding out my arms as the beast rose from the lava and roared so loud, I bet everyone on Pandora could hear it. The most powerful Eridian warrior know to mankind was mine.

"WARRIOR!" I roared at the beast. It regarded me with a simple look, awaiting instruction.

"Destroy yourself," I said simply.

"WHAT?!" Jack yelled.

Regardless, The Warrior stuck a hand inside it's chest and punched a hole through itself. It then began to spit out fire as if was coughing up blood. Then it fell to the ground with a thud and then the whole place was glowing a blinding purple and Lilith and Jack were standing side by side while this all happened.

I then reverted back to my normal human form and I looked at my hands. I was slightly curious what just happened, but I too angry at Jack and too concerned for Lilith to really acknowledge it.

I turned to Lilith's fallen form and helped her up.

"You OK?" I asked.

"I'm fine. But... why?" Lilith asked, pointing where the Warrior was summoned.

"The Warrior was way too powerful. Power like that won't stay contained forever. I decided to destroy it before that happened," I said, looking up into the sky at the Hyperion base of Helios. We would destroy them eventually.

"No, no, no... I can't die like this... not when I'm so close.. and not at the hands of a filthy bandit!" Jack yelled, making Lilith raise an energy fist at him, but I waved her down.

"No. Let the fascist have his final words," I said in my deep voice. "You call me a filthy bandit? What about the people you murdered for no reason? Like my parents, you piece of shit?"

"You are delusional. I did not order to have them killed. You are insane in these accusations that you're accusing," Jack told me.

I was shocked, even though I tried not to show it. I knew he was telling the truth. He didn't order to have my parents killed. But.. what happened to them?

But Jack seemed to have moved off the subject completely and started ranting.

"I could've saved this world! I could've actually restored order! I wasn't supposed to die at the hands of a child killing psychopath!" Jack yelled, his voice growing more and more frantic. "You're a savage! You're a manic! And I AM THE GODDAMNED HERO!"

"Hardly. A hero wouldn't have done what you've done," I said, grabbing him by the throat. "A hero wouldn't have killed innocent people. A hero wouldn't have enslaved his daughter. A hero wouldn't have attacked a person who came here to _help _you. I came to Pandora to help you. Not to fight you." Then I began to laugh at the irony of a scenario.

"What's funny?" Jack snapped.

"What's funny is I came here to Pandora to help you clean it up. And you try to kill me," I said, my chuckling growing louder in volume. "The icing on the cake is... if you had kept it that way, I would've been on your side along with your Hyperion soldiers, trying to kill the 'bandit scum.' Brick, Lilith, Mordecai, Roland, and the Crimson Raiders would've all put a good fight. But even if I didn't kill them on the first attempt, I could've easily bought you time to charge the Key and awaken the Warrior. All it would've taken was one big assault and poof. The Crimson Raider resistance? Gone."

Jack looked at me with wild and surprised eyes. Probably because of the fact he knew I was right.

"But, I'm glad you tried to kill me. If it wasn't for that, I would've never have discovered how corrupt you were and you deserved to die," I said viciously.

"Well then? Go ahead! DO IT!" Jack yelled, holding is arms out. "I'll be glad to watch you go to hell along with your Vault Hunter p-"

The rest of his words were cut off as I let out a roar of rage and tackled him down to the ground and began punching him in the face with all of my strength right off the get go. A lid was restraining my anger up until this point. I didn't realize it would be so bad, so painful, and so consuming that I was blind to anything but punching him.

Then what felt like a second later, I could feel gentle arms pulling me back. The touch seemed to calm me and I was brought back to the present. Whoever it was pulled me close and hugged me tight.

"He's dead. He's dead. It's over Robert. It's over," she said comfortingly. I recognized the voice as Lilith. Right then and there, I began to fall apart. I had started to sob while burying my face in Lilith's shoulder. I felt like a baby while doing this, but I didn't care. There was so much pain to handle. Too much turmoil. So many haunted memories.

And now it was over. The nightmare was over. Handsome Jack was dead and no one was going to bury him. Let his corpse stay here to rot. He was dead. But the memories of what he had done? That was probably going to last forever. The hard times were only halfway over. There was still a lot more to be done.

* * *

A/N: And that concludes the journey to kill Handsome Jack. Whew. Took me hours to finish this. As far as that transformation goes? That will not be revealed until Ruler of Eridia? What is that? Glad you asked. It's going to be my version of Borderlands 3. Yes, I thought about what the plot can be and I decided that I will make my own version of Borderlands 3. I hope you all enjoy it too. But it won't be introduced until we do all of the DLCs. And we have 8 stories in front of that, so we got a journey! If you decide to stick around, I hope you enjoy the adventures that are destined for our Vault Hunters. I'll do a few chapters on side missions for this story before I wrap it up completely. After that, expect the Hammerlock DLC for the next story. As always, stay beautiful people and I hope you enjoyed! Fin. P.S: In case any of you were curious, the relic Tannis gave me was a melee relic. Just sayin.


	22. Chapter 22- Slayer of Terramorphous

A/N: Well, I hope all of you enjoyed last chapter. The more recent chapters will be less violent, and more depressing than anything. At least, that's what I'm aiming for. Yes, the side missions are coming, but this is the Terramorphous fight. So... hope you enjoy this.

* * *

We all teleported back to Sanctuary, and as it turns out, Brick and Mordecai were able to somehow able to survive the drop barge being destroyed. I didn't ask how, but punched them hard enough to even hurt Brick(so you know it was a hard hit) for scaring the shit out of me.

One by one we all appeared out of the Fast Travel Station and then I immediately addressed one of the Crimson Raiders.

"Get everyone to the center of town," I told him. He nodded and began to make moves to get everyone to the center of town with the help of his fellow Raiders. There was a lot of grumbling among the regular citizens. But people like Scooter, Moxxi, and Zed looked interested.

I walked in front of the crowd in front of the Crimson Raider base while being followed by the others. A lot of them immediately started going into whispers at the sight of Lilith. No words were said. Lilith handed me Jack's mask and I held it up to the crowd. The crowd practically _exploded._

"Everyone gets a free drink tonight at the bar! We are all going to party until we fall dead! Handsome Jack is dead and gone!" Moxxi boomed over the crowd. It was hard to get the crowd's attention, but a bullet fired in the air got their attention quickly.

"One thing. I do not want it to be known publicly that I killed him. If someone asks where Handsome Jack is, you tell them he gave up on Pandora," I told the crowd. There was a lot of murmuring from my statement. Even my comrades looked at me surprised.

"Why would you want to do that?" a citizen asked, making everyone else murmur in agreement.

"Because I want a quiet life. While a lot of Hyperion was filled with selfish scum, there are those few people who felt loyal to him. I'd rather not have to deal with it. I want my quiet life, and I will not achieve that if I get a hit on my head by some Hyperion fan boys," I told everyone. "The hit was rescinded, so no one has reason to come after me. And if you tell anyone, you'll have to deal with me."

There was a silence thick enough to with a knife after my sentence. But then Moxxi got them riled up with drinks again, and they immediately began piling up at her bar.

"What are you going to do now?" Krieg asked me.

"Me? I'm going to find a mirror and establish how shitty I look before I shower and get a good night's sleep. After that, I'm going to learn how to live day by day. Lord knows I deserve it," I said.

"Moxxi has a mirror. I'm going to go ask for it," Lilith assured me, walking off. The others stared at me with a deep sympathy. I didn't have to guess why.

"You look like hell Slab," Brick told me.

"I know. That's why I want the mirror. It's to remind me that success is never acquired without pain and suffering," I said, my tone tired.

"You mind if I hit the sack? I'm pretty tired," Krieg said.

"If there's room, I'd like to relax too," Maya said.

"Head on up. I shouldn't need your help for the rest of the day at least," I assured him.

They nodded and waved at everyone before heading up to the headquarters. Lilith then came back with the mirror.

"Wasn't that hard to get it when she heard you wanted to use it," she said, handing it to me.

"Thanks. Is there a shower somewhere?" I asked.

"In some of the houses around here. And I think we're gonna get you some new clothes. You've been wearing that tattered bandit outfit for weeks," Lilith told me.

"Some new clothes would be much better than this old outfit. Find me something different, and I'll give it back until I can make something of my own," I said, walking up the headquarters. I set the mirror down in front of me and looked at myself after all this had gone down. Now I see what they meant when they said I look like hell.

My once black hair was half brown from how dirty it was. It was also crazily disheveled.

The brown skin on my face looked more like melted chocolate from all the sweat on it. There were various cuts and burns on it as well. I traced a finger down the most distinctive scar on my face. The X shaped one of the Lancemen made when I fought them. Luckily I closed my eyes when he did that. Otherwise, I'd be blind in that eye. Surprised no one has commented on it.

Then I could see blood traced on my eye. That wasn't there a moment ago. I then looked down at my hands and saw that I had blood on my hands. Handsome Jack's blood.

I looked at the hand and punched the wall with that hand over and over again, regardless of how broken my hands felt.

"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I roared, tossing the mirror into the wall and shattering it to bits before lowering myself to a sitting position and covering my the top of my head in my hands. I was trembling and I clenched my fists, doing my best to try and calm down. But it wasn't easy. I looked like a mental patient going through a breakdown.

Then I noticed there was a knock on the wall next to me. I looked up to see that it was Tannis.

"What do you want?" I said moodily.

"Sorry to interrupt your extremely destructive way of mourning, but there's something you need to know," she told me.

"Not now. I've been through too much already," I said, my voice drained. Until now, I didn't notice how tired I sounded. I hate the way I'm gonna have to live now. Honestly, I kind of wish I just jumped in the lava back at Hero's Pass. And I could enjoy sweet, blissful death. And I'd be able to see my parents and Angel again. Death honestly sounded like the better option.

"This can't wait. This world won't be to safe too long if you don't listen," Tannis told me.

_"Fuck. I was hoping she wouldn't say that,"_ I thought. I sighed and stood up before facing Tannis and crossing.

"Fine. Go ahead," I told her.

"I've built a seismograph out of rusty metal and mucus, and it tells me that a creature of considerable power named Terramorphous has awakened somewhere on Pandora. It's best for you to kill it before it can get more powerful. I hope you have the necessary Eridium to access it's lair," Tannis explained to me.

I listened to this silently, but I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs. I wanted to yell and scream, but I didn't say a word. After all I had been through, I can't catch a break.

"And this is it? Right?" I asked hopefully.

"For now. I'd say you have a few years to be involved in violence that isn't willing or you aren't being paid to do," Tannis assured. "The creature is in Thousand Cuts. A flight of stairs leads to it's lair. I shall send you the location."

"Fine," I said, storming past her. Once I headed downstairs, I went into a stream of curses in German.

_"Ficken Sie diese Scheiße! Ficken Sie diese Scheiße! Ficken Sie diese Scheiße!" _I continuously said. I noticed that Brick, Lilith, and Mordecai were still in the center of town when I went into my string of German swears.

"What the hell's got you all angry?" Mordecai asked me.

_"Nicht in der fucking Stimmung!" _I snapped at him before using the Fast Travel to head to Thousand Cuts. The Slabs who lived there, instead of trying to kill me, they actually went into a cheer.

"Badass work Slab! You done killed Jack! And for that, we won't try and kill you. Well, most of us. Sometimes," the Slab said.

"Appreciated," I said, my tone impatient. "There's just something I need to take care of."

After a bit of searching around, I noticed a flight of stairs that lead down to a pillar. I placed bar after bar of Eridium on the pillar, and after 8 bars, the passageway finally opened.

"Cool," Tannis said as the passageway opened up. I walked through and saw that we were on a peak adjacent to the cliff where I fought the BNK3R.

I went forward to a trap door and noticed it had a sign that showed Threshers were in the area. This likely meant the creature was a Thresher, which was probably was going to be extremely tough to kill. If it isn't, I am going to bitch slap the absolute hell out of Tannis. I could've gotten a shower and some sleep. Not now until I dealt with this bullshit. It better be worth my time.

I jumped under the trap door and noticed there was a large horn at the edge of the arena. I blew into the horn and there was a loud, blaring noise that led to a gate opening at the other side of the cliff. Then out came the biggest Thresher I had ever seen. It had went underground for a second before coming back up and roaring in the air before going back under.

I started to run back around the center and readied myself to fight this thing. I used the Longbow technology on my turrets to settle them near the gate I had jumped down and raised my Emperor. Something makes me wish I asked for my Hellfire for this fight.

Then the ground began to shake violently around me for a bit of time before the Thresher popped out of the ground and roared in the air. I instantly began firing at the eyes on it. It wasn't too fazed by the shots and pounded the ground, rattling my shield and sending me flying in the air. Luckily the creature was tall enough and my turrets had enough range to shoot at it. And the Thresher wasn't even worried about the turrets. Good. Free slag and explosive damage. Now I knew to makes sure to make a giant leap whenever the Thresher attempted to pound the ground.

He retreated back into the ground and I found stable footing before he came back up and was about to swat me like a fly if I hadn't gone prone(They should make a prone mode as well) and was able to stay under before quickly getting back on my feet and began strafing while firing at Terra's eyes and I managed to pop one of them. He didn't seem to like that much and retreated back under ground.

The ground was now constantly shaking and it was difficult to find stable footing while it was happening.

Then Terramorphous came back up along with some of his tentacles. They then began firing spikes at me like regular threshers did. Only these spikes were the size of bandits.

I constantly jumped to the side before teleporting on top of his head. I used my sword to slide down and get near his eye. One of his tentacles fired a spike at me, but I moved out of the way before it hit me and it impaled right in Terra's eye. The spike popped his eye and I stuffed several Phasebombs down the hole before teleporting away. Judging by the fact that he had to retreat back underground, I can tell that I really hurt it.

When he finally came up, he went into the form that wormhole threshers love to do. I teleported far away from Terramorphous beyond his suction range and continued to snipe him in his eyes while he was still trying his suction strategy. Plus my turrets were _still _firing at him. He was actually in it for quite a while, and I actually ran out of sniper rounds. I then resorted to throwing Phasebombs, which was have a more visual effect on it. Then he retreated back underground and when he came back, he was on fire and so were his tentacles. They began spitting fire at me (and I ain't talking about mixtapes) and I had to keep moving to avoid being hit with the fire.

I teleported up to his eye and entered his body through his eye. I had to stick my sword on one side on his body because he didn't have any organs. I then tried a move that had just came to me.

While holding onto the wall with one hand by my knife, I absorbed 3 bars of Eridium before jumping from the wall taking my knife from it before I began to float up in the air and my body began glowing with energy and then the energy was released into an energy repulse of electricity. The whole thing obliterated the already weak thresher and I fell to the ground hard. Regardless of the sizeable amount of Eridium I absorbed, that still took a lot out of me.

I began to breathe hard and quickly before dragging myself to my feet. At least there was loot for my troubles. I just grabbed the relic that he dropped and slowly dragged myself out of this place. At least it was done.

* * *

A/N: Quick Terra fight and kinda lazy, but I didn't think it was necessary to make it all that long. Plus my character would try to end it as quick as possible. He's just not in the mood for bullshit.


	23. Chapter 23- Mutual Insomniacs

A/N: FEAR NOT! I AM NOT DEAD! lol. Yeah, no updates for weeks, to which I am horribly sorry for. But I have not abandoned you all. I love you all in a platonic way of course. The support I got on this story is definitely more than expected, and for that I am truly grateful. Enough of me being a sap. Next chapter.

* * *

I stood on the balcony in the headquarters with cold sweat surrounding my body, forming goose bumps all over my body and sent chills through every little nerve I had. The cause of it was a nightmare that I was struck with on my first day of rest. At least an attempt on rest. I slept shirtless,, so the cold night air hit me harder than normal. Everyone else was sound asleep. Brick, despite his size, was a quiet sleeper. That everyone could rest while I couldn't was so unfair to me right now. And I hated it.

I sighed as I traced the scars I had on my body idly. First the X shaped one on my face. Then the deeper, but smaller cuts on my shoulders and chest. Each one had it's own story. Not a particularly long one, but memorable none the less.

"Can't sleep either?" a soft voice said behind me. I didn't have to turn around to know it was Lilith. For a second, I would've thought I had awoken her with my yelling out of the nightmare.

"No. Barely got a couple of hours. I... I just can't stop thinking about what happened these past few weeks. I've been through hell and it follows me like a fucking ghost," I said, my tone hollow. Lilith me looked at me with a look of understanding.

"I can understand that. I'm pretty jealous that everyone else can sleep soundly. Well, Mordecai passed out drunk, so I can understand that one," Lilith said in an as a matter of fact tone.

"So am I," I said as I idly traced the scars I had. She seemed to look at my scars curiously.

"You have quite a lot of scars," she said in an idle tone. It seems she was trying to strike a type of conversation, which certainly wasn't unwelcome. Better than my current thoughts.

"Yes I do. Been a mercenary for over a decade. You eventually run into something that leaves behind a present. Like this," I said, pointing to the scar on my right shoulder. "Six inches deep and it bled when I got it. A lot."

"What happened?" Lilith asked.

"I was chasing an assassin that was going after a hit on my contractor. Man jumped on a hovercraft and tried to get away as I was shooting at him. Unfortunately for him, I had a Vladof rocket launcher, so he didn't last long. Unfortunately for me, luck was not on my side as a particularly sharp piece of the hovercraft launched itself into my shoulder. Cut painfully deep. Didn't have a hypo, so I healed the wound too late for it not to leave a scar," I explained.

"Did it hurt?" Lilith asked rhetorically, smirking. I smirked back.

"You get a piece of hovercraft that cuts 6 inches deep into your shoulder and ask me if it hurts," I told her.

"No thanks. I have no scars as of now, and I intend to keep it that way," Lilith told me. I stared at the exposed parts of her skin. Not a scratch to be seen. Even during her time with Jack.

"No scars. Lucky you," I said dryly.

"Scars show that you've been through shit. With the amount of scars you have, you look like you've been through a lot of shit," Lilith told me. I processed that with a grim look.

"That's an understatement," I said evenly. She seemed to take it the wrong way and regretted her statement.

"I didn't mean to bring it back up. It's just..." she rambled, but I silenced her with a calmly raised hand.

"It's fine. I fucking resent the war," I said in a bitter tone.

"You aren't the only one. We lost so many... Bloodwing, Angel, R-" At the attempt to say his name, I could see that a lump rose in her throat that led me to believe that natural reflex prevented her from saying his name. At the mention of Angel, everyone nerve in my body stiffened as well. For a while, we just stood there as if someone had frozen us in time. Nothing moving except our eyes. No sounds except our breathing. It seemed so loud in the silence, but our sleeping friends wouldn't even hear anything.

"Well, we can try to get some sleep now," Lilith told me. Somehow, the idea terrified me. I bit my lip at trying to get out my next sentence. Lilith walked a few steps before looking back at me and stopping.

"What is it?" she asked in concern.

"It's... it's nothing. I'm fine," I said quietly. So quiet I barely heard my own words.

"You sound timid, which is nothing how I'm used to hearing you. So come on. Out with it. I won't judge," Lilith told me.

I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. This sentence would make me sound so... _childish. _

"I... I'm a little scared to sleep alone now," I said, my voice small. I don't know what it was that made me feel like this, but I just feel like if I sleep by myself, I'm going to feel like I've lost everyone. And that feeling makes me uneasy in ways I can't explain.

I could tell by the look on Lilith's face that this was not something she was expecting. I had to break eye contact as a flush started to creep on my neck. At my age, that seemed to only insinuate one thing. But it was no such case now. I was generally scared to sleep alone.

"I'm acting like a fucking 2 year old. It's stupid, I know. Look, just forget I said anything," I said, starting to move past her to go through one of the rooms in this place, but then I felt her hand on my shoulder.

"The look in your eyes tells me all I need to know. I will be there for you, but know one thing. If hands and fingers end up in the wrong places, I'm breaking them," Lilith threatened me. The statement/threat nearly made me start laughing. It felt so... normal. The last few weeks have anything but.

"Break away if it happens. But anything that happens after I'm asleep, blame my unconscious brain. Not my logical and awake brain," I said. She nodded in confirmation. I went back to the room that I had. Everyone seemed to let me have this room. They figured space was what I needed. Little did they know that that was the last thing I need right now.

I collapsed on the bed in exhaustion, like I had never had a wink of sleep.

"Scoot over. You're hogging the damn bed," Lilith said moodily. I shifted over as I was in mid-yawn.

"S-s-sorry," I said sleepily, before noticing a smell coming from her. Slightly chemically, but a little pleasant to me. "You smell like slag."

"The Eridian byproduct, or a Moxxi?" Lilith asked me, making me laugh softly.

"The Eridian byproduct. If it was the latter I'd hate to think..." I trailed off as a horrifying thought crossed my mind that I'd rather not think about. "Never mind."

"That Jack or his 'allies' raped me," Lilith said with no emotion, practically echoing my thoughts. Lilith wasn't at all phased by my statement. It unnerved me a little. "No. It was only torture of the painful kind. Not that. I'm grateful for it though. Pain I can take."

"I'm glad. I would hate that to happen to anyone. Especially a friend of mine," I said. Lilith moved close enough to me where I could feel her body heat, and I could feel myself flush. I had never been this close to a woman since that fiasco of a relationship on Eden-6. Woman nearly slit my throat when I had fell asleep. Hell of a plan for an assassination attempt. Luckily I sleep with one eye open.

"Sweet of you, but you think the worst too much. Go to sleep," Lilith said, shifting into a more comfortable sleeping position. I looked at the woman next to me as reminder that if it wasn't for me, none of these people would be alive. Krieg would probably still be in the Tundra express. Lilith would still be dead along side Roland, Mordecai and Brick. Maya and Krieg's wife would still be stuck in the Preserve. The Warrior would have been ravaging this planet and the people who inhabit it in the name of Hyperion and Jack's own selfish cause. _I _saved these people. _I _helped them win this war.

With that confident thought in my mind, I closed my eyes and fell asleep in seconds. No dreams haunted me for the rest of this Pandoran night.

* * *

A/N: Would've been longer, but it's late, and I got to get up early in the morning. Hopefully I'll have another chapter up tomorrow. Peace. P.S: Judge what you will from this chapter.


	24. Chapter 24- At the bar

A/N: Don't really have anything to say.

* * *

Warm. That was the feeling I recognized once I began to wake up. Warm and soft. I could feel a slender figure around my arm, and I didn't recognize it. Last night seemed to come in a blur, seeing as my current thought process was very much fucked up in my current state.

I attempted to shift my legs, but they seemed to be tangled in others. I dared to open my eyes and saw the peaceful, sleeping state of Lilith. I smiled slightly at her willingness to sleep here to keep me company. What happened in the night before seemed to come flooding back to me once my thoughts began to clear up.

I could hear a soft moan from her as she shifted in her sleep, one of her arms crushed under her own body, the other wrapped around my right shoulder, laying right on top of my scar. I was shirtless still, so it was skin meeting skin. Her touch made my skin feel warm and tingly on my shoulder.

I could tell her hands were calloused. She definitely spent time getting stronger physically, but the feeling from her touch was unexpected from such a calloused hand. It was soft, warm, and comforting regardless of how calloused it was. Her normally straight and stiff red hair seemed to become long and thin overnight, coming in at strands hanging over her face that blew back slightly at each breath she took. Hell, Roland was a lucky man before... I swallowed and did my best to try and forget that.

I would normally try to get up and maybe find something to eat, but as of now, our legs were tangled and her arm was wrapped around me with one wrapped around hers. I would definitely not be able to get up without waking her. And personally, it didn't feel like I got any sleep. I felt slightly better than last night, but emphasis on slightly.

So I went back to sleep. The door was locked, because if someone caught us in this room like this, it would involve a lot of unwelcome questioning. Especially from Krieg. Hopefully they would think it's because I want some time by myself, and they would grant me that. Hopefully.

Now I felt cold. The sudden feeling caused me to tense up and frown because of it. It got so agonizing that that I had to open my eyes as sleep was not an option anymore. I opened my eyes to see Lilith up already. She looked apologetic at her actions.

"Sorry to have woken you, but there's some things I need to take care. Concerning the city, the Vaults out there..." Lilith told me, but I gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's fine. Little Ms. Firehawk's got some work to do," I said in an encouraging tone. She faced me with a look so serious, I would've thought she was serious until I saw the humorous glint in her eyes.

"I'm not little," she said in a haughty tone before promptly leaving the room. I snickered at her prideful attitude before laying back down. It didn't seem I was ever going to leave this bed for days. Staying up for as long as I did was healthy for no one.

I laid my head back down and tried for sleep again, but I felt cold. I curled up in the covers, but even that barely seemed to help. I've never been as warm as I was since last night. While I was curled up next to Lilith. The Firehawk seems to have plenty of body heat, ironically.

Regardless, I curled up into a ball and began going to sleep.

* * *

"Wake up! Wake up! Robert, _wake up!" _I could hear someone yelling at me.

All of a sudden, my eyes snapped open and I couldn't feel anything but how cold and scared I was. I seemed to be drowning in my own cold sweat.

_"This is your fault... You fault..." _the voices echoed in my head. I was too petrified to register anything but the voices and my cold sweat.

Then I finally acknowledged Krieg who was holding me by the shoulders. By the look on his face, I was dying before his eyes.

"I... I'm fine. I just..." I said, sitting up and rubbing my hands down my face. "I need a moment."

"You are _not _fine. Just about everyone in Sanctuary heard you scream in your sleep. When we cam to check on you, you were sweating, trembling. It's like Hell itself was in your nightmares. What'd you dream about?" Krieg asked me.

"I... saw them again. Roland. Angel. My parents. And a bunch of unfamiliar faces. They all pointed the finger at me. That I let them die. That it was my fault. Then... I was back there. Except I saw you all fall. And it was just me. Alone with the death of my friends on my mind. And it was my fault..." I trailed off, my voice filled with guilt.

Then I felt a painful punch to my nose. Only it wasn't Krieg that done it. I didn't even notice the others were around my bed and Lilith was the culprit of the blow. Damn, she could punch hard.

"You're being idiotic. We'd all be dead if it weren't for you. Roland and the others included. Just be glad you managed to save most of us. Don't you _dare_ blame yourself for the people you couldn't save," she snapped at me in a firm tone. Her eyes seemed to be blazing through her normal eyes. Like a fire was lit behind them. I looked down at the bed I was sitting on in a type of resigned fashion.

"No matter how hard I try, my mind seems to never let me accept it," I told her.

"Listen, amigo. We were in horrible shape before you came along. We could only take out small amounts of his force at a time along with his Eridium mines and key bases every now and then. That's it. Angel wasn't of any help to us until you came along," Mordecai said, making me tighten my eyes at the mention of Angel. "The point is, this war would be lost without you. Everyone would dead or worse than dead. You're really going to blame yourself because of the losses we suffered?"

"I could've done more..." I said, but Krieg cut me off this time and he looked angry in a disbelieving type of way.

"More? Look at you! Even with an entire Pandoran night of rest, you still look like absolute _hell._ You spent weeks with no sleep, little food and water trying to kill this bastard. You can't try harder than that," Krieg assured me in a fierce tone. He wasn't the only one serious about this. Everyone else had expressions of the utmost firmness I have ever seen. Even Brick.

"You were turning point in this war Slab. You helped us win, and nothing bad that happens was on your account," he assured me. I sighed. I knew I was acting stupid, but I just felt so wrong surviving this while people I cared about were lying in a grave.

"Maybe sleep isn't what you need right now. Maybe you need a little therapy. And not the 'we're going to talk about your past' bullshit. We're going to have fun and take your mind off things," Mordecai told me. "I think a few drinks is a good place to start."

"When isn't it with you?" Lilith said while chuckling. I smiled a little bit to and ducked my head down to try and hide it, but Krieg caught me.

"That's the spirit. Let go," he told me. I nodded and looked at Mordecai.

"About that drink..." I trailed, getting to my feet and pulling on a shirt. Krieg clapped me on the shoulder reassuringly.

"You need a lot of them. Moxxi said they're still free for you," he told me.

"She might regret that after today," I said with a smile as I walked past them.

* * *

I smiled as I downed my third drink today effortlessly melted the glass with my Siren powers, leaving no trace. All Vault Hunters current and previous were at this table enjoying themselves. Lilith next to me, Maya next to her, Krieg across from me, Mordecai next to him, and Brick next to him.

"How do you feel now?" Maya asked me.

"Better. Half my senses are numbed, and it helps with the bad stuff. I feel tipsy, but I'm not drunk yet," I explained.

"It's better to forget your problems for a bit," Lilith said, taking a sip from her lager.

"I know that's right," Krieg said, taking a long sip from the lager. "Sleep well?"

"As well as I could," I said evenly, but my ears grew a bit warm. Luckily, I was dark enough for my redness not to be easily visible. Lilith on the other hand, went red as a tomato in the face and choked on her lager, sending her into a coughing fit.

"Is this why you never drink Lil?" Mordecai said with chuckle, pulling the lager away from her.

Lilith blinked really fast to quickly make the tears in her eye disappear.

"I'm the lightweight of this group. Cut me a break," she said, smiling to break off the suspicion. Luckily, no one seemed to think it out of the ordinary. Though I looked at the corner of my eye and I noticed Moxxi give me a subtle wink. I rolled my eyes, thinking she's going back to her flirty attitude that she had when I first met her.

"Lil, you reek of slag. Robert wasn't the only one who needed a shower," Mordecai said, tracing a smell toward Lilith. I nearly slipped up and said that 'That's what I told her,' but that wouldn't make sense if that was really my first time waking up. Lilith however...

"That's what he told me," Lilith said, jerking her index finger toward me. I nearly face palmed, but I simply shot her a look that said 'what are doing?!' But I had to quickly wipe to look off my face before someone caught it. But Mordecai turned his attention to me.

"When did you tell her this?" he asked. Everyone turned their attention to me.

"It was the first thing I said to her when the Warrior was dead. Figured something simple would ease the situation a bit more," I lied.

"Did it work?" Krieg asked me.

"No. No it didn't. I still ended up losing my fucking mind," I said, which was half true.

"What'd you do?" Krieg asked.

"He crushed Jack's head in 10 punches and began punching holes in the ground after he had done so," Lilith said, taking a sip from her lager before speaking again. "For 10 minutes straight long after he broke his knuckles. He did even notice until I had him look at his knuckles." Brick then looked at me.

"You're a tough son of a bitch," he said idly.

"Thanks," I said, draining my bottle and disintegrating it. "Need another drink."

"Going for number 4?" Mordecai asked me.

"And you would know about more than number 4, don't you Mordecai?" I said with a smile, before walking to Moxxi's counter. "Another drink please."

"It's not for Mordecai, is it?" Moxxi asked.

"No, it's for me. What's the problem you have with Mordecai drinking, anyway? He's a drunk, but he's not unlike most of the people in this place, and you service them," I pointed out.

"He's my ex," Moxxi said simply, sliding me another drink. From that, I frowned.

"Who isn't?" I asked seriously. Moxxi raised an eyebrow at me.

"What are you saying?" she asked me.

"There was cum on your camera. You do the math Sherlock," I said before walking back to my table with a frown.

"What's with you? Moxxi try to flirt with you?" Krieg asked me. Mordecai seemed a particularly rough sip from his lager, and I can't exactly blame him.

"I don't want her around me," I said, uncapping the lager and taking a sip. "I'm not that guy who's into the woman who does anything and everything with anyone. It's disgusting really."

"Congratulations. You are a rare breed of men," Lilith said, grabbing her lager and taking a sip.

"Even rarer," I said, rolling up my sleeves and showing off my tattoos. "I'm the only guy with Siren tattoos."

"You don't know that. Though you're most likely right," Maya said, taking another small sip.

"I know," I said, taking another long sip. Then I felt a hand shake my knee.

I looked over to the right and saw Lilith giving me a look. I guess she needed to talk to me. I stood up while holding my head.

"You ok amigo? Is Lilith the only lightweight here?" Mordecai asked me while chuckling.

"Just need some air," I said, getting up and walking outside next to a dead body. I turned my head to the side out of curiosity and picked up the ECHO before playing it.

"The Bane... Marcus..." it said. I furrowed my eyebrows out of curiosity. I would have to talk to Marcus about that. When I turned around, I saw Lilith walk out of the club and faced me with a serious expression.

"Are you reassured about what with everything that happened? I want to make sure," Lilith said, making me sigh in exasperation.

"Not this again. Look, I'm sure. Though I'm not sure that's going to stop me from having the nightmares," I said as honestly as I could.

"You seemed to be alright last night," Lilith said, making me go a deep red and mutter something incoherent. "What was that?"

"I said... I said..." I cleared my throat before speaking. "I said that it was because you were there for me. It helped me." Now I turned an even darker red which I'm sure was visible now.

Lilith went red herself and mouthed an 'oh.' I looked down at my feet in embarrassment.

"I'll admit, this has helped me too. This war... it's... it's been tough. Same time tonight?" Lilith asked, her voice quiet on the last three words. I smiled at her.

"Thanks," I told her.

"You're helping me out this too, so no thanks are needed," Lilith told me. "Hopefully, we don't get caught. There will be some explaining to do if we get caught."

"I realize this. You'll get hell from Moxxi likely. I'll get it from Krieg," I said.

"We'll keep the door locked. See you tonight," Lilith said, waving and walking back inside. I blushed as it sounded like... innuendo. It sent a chill down my spine that made me shiver.

I tried to shake of my blush before I walked back inside and grabbed my drink. Krieg looked me straight in the eye. Was a bit unnerving when he didn't have his mask. Reminds me of Jason Voorhees.

"You alright?" he asked me.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Lilith. I don't blame myself, but I doubt it'll stop the nightmares," I said, looking down in my bottle and swirl it around while looking at it spin.

"Hopefully you'll be too drunk tonight to think about that tonight. So stuff more drinks down your throat, and hopefully you'll be spared a night," Mordecai told me. "So drink up."

I shook my head and took another sip. I hope I didn't do something I would regret.

* * *

I could barely walk tonight. My vision, my thought process, and my senses were all fuzzy and barely working.

"Can you even walk man?" Krieg asked me.

"IIIIII'll be ffffine," I slurred.

"Well, you got hammered pretty badly," Krieg told me, his face swaying all over the place in my field of vision. "Come on, I'll escort you back to your room."

"I don't need no ddddddamn escort," I slurred, throwing my arm out which caused me to lose my balance. Krieg had to catch me before I ended up face first on the floor.

"Come on. I'm taking you to your room," Krieg said, dragging me away.

I pouted and let him drag me inside my room and I pulled my arm away from him, and in the process, I nearly fell over.

"I can make it," I told him in as prideful of a tone as I could make while drunk.

"Alright Sir Siren. Good night," Krieg said, closing the door. I fell on the bed and my head was eased slightly with the drop of elevation and I sighed in relief. There was a flash of purple in my room and it hurt my head with the flash out of the corner of my eyes.

"Did you think I forgot?" Lilith said in a laughing tone.

"Nope," I said, grinning in my pillow. "IIIIIIIIII was expecting you to arrive. I jjjust didn't know when. How'd you get away?"

"Told everyone I went for a walk in the Highlands and went down near the Fast Travel Station before teleporting here. And you're drunk," Lilith said in a tone of finality.

"Funny. KKKKKrieg said the ssssssssame thing," I said, raising my hand up in the air in a gesture of dismissal.

"That's because it's fact. But it's alright," Lilith said as I felt her weight sink on the bed. "Alright?"

"FFFine," I said, before moving closer to her. "How are you?"

"Good. You're awfully close," Lilith said.

"Can't help it," I mumbled into the pillow. "I'm cold."

"Cold? Is it because I'm 'little Ms. Firehawk?'" Lilith said in a teasing voice. I smiled and didn't say anything for the rest of the night. But I got a weird sensation in my stomach before I fell asleep. And it wasn't an unpleasant one.

* * *

A/N: I'm getting closer to moving on to Hammerlock's Hunt in a few chapters. Depends on when I decide. Plus, I have no idea what I'm going to do with Lilith. I'll see you all later.


	25. Chapter 25- Back to work

A/N: I saw Tales From the Borderlands Episode 4, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If any of you have seen it, I think you would definitely enjoy it too. And you also need to see if before you see the Borderlands 3 sequel. And that is a definite work in progress. I kind of had to make it up as I go along, but I did the same thing with this, and it turned out pretty good. Now, I'm only doing the side missions that lead to us getting legendaries. The list includes: The Good, The Bad, and the Mordecai, The Clan War(killing the Hodunks, but instead of the Chulainn, we get the Maggie from him and the Slagga off the Hodunks, which Krieg receives), BFFs, The Bane(Just cause), and Slap Happy. Everything else I'll cut out.

* * *

2 months later...

I stood in front of Hammerlock with an even look on my face. I helped him with quite a few more jobs the past 2 months.

It took forever for me to get to a point where I could do a job and not pass out. Zed diagnosed me with sleep deprivation, undernourishment, and overexertion on the body. Trying to kill Handsome Jack nearly killed me. But that was my fault because I couldn't take a fucking break.

Lilith, Brick, and Mordecai began handling the responsibility of cores for Sanctuary, bandit control, and particularly dangerous enemies, I figured it was beneficial to focus on getting paid. I took Hammerlock's jobs as well as a job in Lynchwood about a giant skag, Maya helped with Scooter his jobs, and Krieg helped Zed with his jobs because he's the one keeping Ivana alive, who still hasn't woken up. Speaking of Krieg's family, he hasn't had a chance to confront Tina about him being her dad. I'll be pretty amazed what happens.

"Thanks for your help this past week chum!" Hammerlock exclaimed to me jovially. I nodded at him with my 'business look' my face. Serious, emotional, and not personal

"Glad to be of service. Anything else?" I asked him.

"Just one more thing. Have you ever wondered why I don't go out into the field?" Hammerlock asked me. That a was a questioned that actually made me furrow my eyebrows. Why didn't Hammerlock go out into the field? I would think those metal limbs would be useful in combat.

"Why not? I would think those limbs are useful for you to be active," I explained to him.

"Under normal circumstances, you would be right. But these particularly limbs are only used for minor movement. Not for mercenary work. Only the more technological limbs can work like that," Hammerlock explained. But the answer to how I got these limbs is Old Slappy - A thresher that nearly killed me. Science demands I forgive it. Vengeance demands I kill it. Today my friend, you will be my vengeance. Take my hand."

He then removed his metal right hand and gave it to me.

"Ok. Why do I need this?" I asked him.

"Old Slappy removed several of my limbs the last time we met. One hopes the scent of my extremities will lure him out of hiding. Make him eager to finish the job as it were. Plant my arm outside Slappy's lair in the Highlands," Hammerlock told me.

I nodded and went to the Fast Travel in Sanctuary and traveled to the Highland coordinates Hammerlock sent me, which was at the Hyperion station I went to when trying to get Sanctuary back on the Fast Travel Network.

The coordinates pinpointed me to a lower area in the base with a small puddle of water all over the place. I assume Hyperion trapped Old Slappy like this to prevent him from escaping. Which meant there were subterranean traps in play. Clever.

I jumped down into the area where he was trapped and attached Hammerlock's arm to a pillar in the center of the arena. As soon as I did that, the ground began to shake.

"That's right Slappy. You smell it, don't you? That's the scent of a gentleman," Hammerlock said.

A few seconds later, a gigantic Thresher came up out of the water and roared in the air before sinking underground again and then coming back up.

I drew my Striker when Slappy rose up and I began shooting the numerous tentacles trying to kill me. The stopping power of the Striker, the amp damage, and numerous pellet count was able to hit critical spots pretty easily.

"Beware Slappy's tentacles! You can blast them in half, but they'll regenerate sooner or later!" Hammerlock warned me.

"Yeah, I've fought threshers before," I told him. Feeler threshers had the same mechanic. A shield that I took off Hunter Hellquist called the Bee, which amplified the shots that I had and made it much easier to kill things. This shield was much better than normal amps because it didn't take capacity to fire an amp shot. But I hated it because 1, it was Hyperion, and two, they had generally low capacity. But I had to admit, this shield was perfect for this.

"The eyes! Go for the eyes!" Hammerlock exclaimed at me. From my fight with Terramorphous, I figured out that threshers hated being shot in their eyes. This information was not new, but merely a reminder, to which I appreciated anyway.

I began using Jakobs' legendary finger trigger fire rate to make Old Slappy suffer by repeatedly shooting him in his eyes with an amp boosted Striker.

He stomped the ground and I was sent into the air and halfway broke my shield, which made me unable to use amp damage until it recharged.

As I was falling, I went for Old Slappy and stabbed my sword in one of the eyes I didn't hit with my Striker before tossing a MIRV grenade inside of there and Old Slappy groaned from the pain. If Threshers relied on organs, that would've killed him.

Instead I settled for it being stunned for a period of time, to which my shield finally filled back up and I could tear back into him with the amp powered Striker. A couple more shots, and then he finally fell. With that gear, that wasn't a very challenging fight.

"Yes! You've killed the creature who's removed my various limbs! I feel... Well, slightly underwhelmed to be honest. Mayhaps, vengeance isn't all it's cracked up to be. Still, not your fault. Retrieve my arm and return at your leisure," Hammerlock told me. It seems he isn't one for vengeance as much as the rest of us are. Maybe it's because he's a scientist and the rest of us are killers.

Nevertheless, I grabbed his arm from the post and used my Siren powers to teleport to the Fast Travel before using it to head back to Sanctuary. I then walked in Moxxi's bar and handed Hammerlock his arm back.

"Scientifically, murdering Old Slappy was probably a bad idea. Vengeance-stically, I thank you for your help," Hammerlock told me after handing me a new shotgun. Wouldn't be better than my Striker, but it would make some decent cash if I tossed it towards Marcus' way.

"No problem. I'm happy to help," I told him. "Now, there's something I need to do. It involves a giant skag, and..."

"Ah. No further explanation is needed chum. Go on your merry way and kill said skag!" Hammerlock exclaimed happily.

"Thanks," I said with a small smile before heading to the Fast Travel and heading to Lynchwood. The place was occupied by bandits now that I cleared out Jack's grip on Lynchwood. I was more than happy to kill the bandits that got in my way and headed to the old mine that Dukino led me to. Oh, this couldn't be good.

When I went down, I noticed bandits were attempting to stop the skag, and losing miserably. But I quickly spot Dukino running around among all the chaos.

"Oh, crap. Remember when I said that little skag's mom must've abandoned it? Well, I think she found him again!" Scooter exclaimed. "I hear skag moms eat their young! You got to take her out man!"

"Aw, hell. This bitch is huge," I said aloud. No joke. This thing was half of the Warrior's size. At the very least a third.

I noted that the skag seemed to have armor on it rather than it's traditional rough skin. Which means anything corrosive would be more effective on it.

So I pulled out my Hornet and teleported up to the high ground and hung on to a section on the rock structure while firing at Dukino's mom from my vantage point, hitting the occasional shot in her mouth. But she didn't seem bothered at all by my shots.

So I made my Hornet disappear and summoned a corrosive Phasebomb before tossing it at her.

This was a bad thing as it ignored the last 3 bandits that were shooting at it and focused its attention on me from the Phasebomb's superior and more noticeable strength to my Hornet shots.

It fired a beam toward me and I had to pull some Matrix shit and run across the wall using Phasewalk and managed to jump from the wall and jump into the skag's mouth, shooting out a corrosive nova wave when I landed and teleported before the skag could even have a chance to crush me with it's big ass jaws.

Now the skag has its attention firmly on me and was majorly pissed off. She jumped in the air and landed with a shockwave stomp that knocked me into the wall and nearly drained my shield.

I responded by throwing 2 more Phasebombs which didn't managed to break her armor, but damaged the armor to the point where it was piercing into the skag's skin and was doing more harm than good. I decided to take advantage of that.

So I went into another Phasewalk on the wall and jumped off toward the skag. The force was enough to knock it down and dent its skin. It started howling because the armor from its own skin was impaled in its hide like a shiv. Time to finish it.

I imbued my hands with fire and corrosion and jumped on the area where the armor was piercing the skag's hide and began mercilessly punching the armor deeper and deeper into the skag while separating an area where I could just pound the open wounds the armor had made.

My natural strength was dealing a bunch of damage to her open wounds as well as the elemental damage began spreading inside and the outside of Dukino's mom. Eventually the skag couldn't take anymore and fell over, dead.

"Good job saving your little skag buddy man. I feel logistically that makes you its new mom or something. I don't know. Heh," Scooter said, making me look curiously at the skag who had come up to me and started rolling around on it's back with its tongue out. Somehow, this skag managed to make it look adorable.

I rubbed the top of the skag's head comfortingly before I began to walk out. But the skag seemed to whine and move closer to around my legs. I guess he wanted to come with me. First, I wanted to see if this skag was well behaved and knew how to listen.

"Sit," I commanded to it. It did just that.

"Jump," I commanded again. It did just that. It seemed it would listen to me.

"Eat the bandits if you want, but don't eat the loot," I told it as I went to check if Dukino's mom ingested anything useful. I saw a Vladof rocket launcher that looked above average to normal Vladofs. I noticed one of the almost ingested objects in her stomach, which I had to cut into to get some of the loot, and it looked like a type of ID. Guess this thing got around.

Other than the rocket launcher, nothing seemed really special. I would give this to Krieg. I didn't really have need for a rocket launcher. And it came in the fire element, which was useful. Dukino didn't eat the loot of the bandits, but he might as well have done it. No wonder they weren't doing anything to it.

Dukino followed me loyally all the way back to the Fast Travel and I had to carry him when we needed to get back to Sanctuary. When we arrived, I gave Dukino the rundown.

"Do NOT eat anyone here. They are all friends. If they try to hurt you, you come to me. Ok?" I told Dukino. Dukino turned his head at me which I assumed was a confirmation from him. I smiled and gently scratched Dukino on the side of his head.

That made him turn over on his back in enjoyment and I began to love this skag as a pet. I'm sure this is a fraction of what Mordecai felt for Bloodwing.

Dukino followed me back up to the dorm and I gestured for him to rest on the bed. He gladly did so and I decided to sit down on the edge and enjoy myself with my ECHO playlist that I had to restore.

_Ya left me_  
_I'm like I don't know why_  
_Ya came back_  
_And gave it another try_  
_But Im caught up_  
_And my old habit's a lie_  
_So we stop..._  
_And now were sayin bye bye_

By then, I heard that another voice had joined in with me singing and I looked over to the doorway to see that out of all people, Maya had joined in. I simply smiled and kept on singing.

Both of us:_ If ya ask me to kill_  
_I would_  
_If ask me to steal_  
_I would_  
_If ya want me to love ya_  
_I could_  
_But we're so misunderstood _

Maya:_ Me and you together ain't really good anyway_  
_We could break up or just break out in a heated argument on any given day_  
_I'm impossible_  
_Bein with me is an obstacle_  
_Women of the world_  
_I got lots to pull_  
_But we closer than most_  
_Especially with our clothes on the floors_  
_I only give a dose to them hoes_  
_And without you is the one thing I hate_  
_Together our fate_  
_But if ya ask baby I would jump in a lake_  
_And I cheated_  
_You stayed faithful_  
_And I'm ungrateful_  
_And I act so damn hateful_  
_And over and over and over the sofa, finito_  
_Cause I ain't seen when they get control of my libido_  
_Forget about it_  
_Cause I mean the world of you_  
_I was just playin with them girls baby I love you_  
_I know I messed up with ya baby I owe you_  
_If we break up I'm a die or you_

I was hella impressed. Who knew Maya could rap?

Both:_ If ya ask me to kill_  
_I would_  
_If ya ask me to steal_  
_I would_  
_If ya want me to love ya_  
_I could_  
_But we're so misunderstood_

Me:_ Baby this is too hard_  
_The fightin and the fussin and the cussin and ya bustin me in my mouth_  
_Girl I just want ya heart_  
_I'm tusslin with the fact that ya want me to get out_  
_But I ain't leavin  
__You will listen to me now_  
_If I gotta hold ya down (down, down)_  
_We're so misunderstood_  
_Ya familly wonderin why ya still keepin me around_

Both:_ But if ya ask me to kill_  
_I would_  
_If ya ask me to steal_  
_I would_  
_If ya want me to love ya_  
_I could_  
_But we're so misunderstood._

The song ended and I stopped the playlist to look Maya with a surprised expression.

"You listen to this song?" I asked her.

"When you're brought up by a cult all your life, you find entertainment in whatever you can. Music was one of those things. Immersing myself in combat training was another. As well as the knowledge in books," Maya explained to me.

"So just how much do you know about music?" I asked her.

"Just about every song known to man it seems. I didn't really have to much to do. I spent all 30 years of my life in captivity on Athenas. The only action I saw was in training," Maya said, making me give her a look of disbelief.

"What life have you been living?" I asked in disbelief.

"You sure you want to hear my sob story?" Maya asked me. I sat on the couch in front of the safe and patted the seat next to me.

"I got time. Plus I don't know too much about you. Perfect opportunity to start now," I reasoned with her.

Maya shrugged and sat down next to me and began to start her story.

"I never knew my parents. No one seemed to know anything about them. They just kind of disappeared off the face of the Earth. I was raised into this cult who bred me as a warrior for this planet. They filled me with stories that I was going to have to protect my planet from an evil. When I first heard those words, rather than being scared, I was ecstatic. I was born for an opportunity to protect my planet and the people who raised me," Maya explained.

"Sounded like they made it sound like you were destined for great things," I told her. Maya chuckled hollowly before continuing.

"Yeah, it sounded like that. But that wasn't the case. I spent 27 years trained as a warrior, but also to be a weapon. Something to be feared," Maya explained.

"You keep talking about this cult holding you back and keeping you prisoner. How exactly did you get out?" I asked her.

"I'm getting to that. One day Brother Sophis, who was the leader, brought a man for me to execute. The man was practically begging for his life. Sophis just asked me to execute him. Not to question or anything. Just to follow orders. Then the man spoke up and promised he'd pay his tithe. Turns out he was just using me to maintain the fear of this planet. To control it," Maya explained in a bitter tone. Upon hearing this, I shook my head in disgust.

"Bastard. I sincerely he's missing entrails right about now," I said in a venomous tone. Maya seem taken aback at my anger.

"You went from 0 to 100 real quick," Maya said, making me smile at her reference to the song. "Ok, back to 0. Are you bipolar?"

"No. It's just words that have meaning behind them will change my attitude just about instantly. This is one of those times. I can't believe the manipulative nerve of some people," I said in an irritated tone.

"Yeah, well, he's dead, so I'm not too worried about it anymore," Maya said, before smiling. "Now, I got a question for you in return."

"Shoot," I told her.

"It's none of my business to pry, but... how exactly did you fall in love with Angel? The two of you only met once. So... how did that work?" Maya asked me.

I admit. I was caught off guard by the question, but I decided to give her an honest answer.

"I don't know. It's like... one of those things that just happens. I met, or at least was introduced to Angel when I managed to survive a train explosion. The entire time I was trying to get to Sanctuary, she was there all the time in a way. Like a Guardian Angel," I said, smiling at the irony of the phrase. "Anyway, I don't take idle information and ignore it. I actually ask about the person themselves because I actually care. I guess things sort of worked from there. I felt like I understood her and she understood me."

Maya seemed to ponder my answer with an even expression. Then I saw her shake her head.

"I don't really understand love in general. I was raised in a place where there was nothing but obedience. Must be nice," Maya told me.

"Love isn't always what you think it is. It can be incredibly painful too. Trust me. I lost 3 loved ones in the span of a few weeks on this damned planet, and it nearly broke me to pieces. Roland was my friend, but... it just didn't compare when I lost my parents and Angel. It was terrible. Felt like someone ripped my heart right out of me," I explained to her, my tone remorseful. "I don't expect you to understand, but..."

"I don't. I'm just going to lay it out on the table. I don't understand. But I hope to eventually understand during my time with you all," Maya said with a smile. I smiled back and gave her a hug. It felt slightly awkward from the angle I had on the couch, but it was a warm hug nonetheless. I held Maya by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're family. And around here, family is held in the highest regard. We will do anything for family. We will die for family. And you'll learn what it's like to be loved around here," I promised her. Maya smiled at me.

"I know the feeling that I have now. Acceptance. Which is something I haven't felt in a long time," she admitted to me.

"You're gonna get it here. Let's start with a drink," I said, rising to my feet and gesturing to follow me. "How about it?"

"Suits me just fine. Note the fact that I don't drink much and if you get me drunk and make me do something I will regret, I will turn your bones into a puddle," Maya threatened me. I simply laughed good naturedly at her threat and raised a surrender gesture.

"Hey, you won't get it from me. I'm not that guy. Come on. It's free," I said, walking out. I figured now was the best time to make our ties now while we had the chance. But all of a sudden, she stopped me at the door.

"Oh, I almost forgot. This was one of Hyperion's best weapons. Since you killed Jack, Lilith thought you would have rights to it," Maya said, using her ECHO to summon a black and red Hyperion shotgun. "You want it?" I shrugged and grabbed it.

"Hell it'll be useful. Now come on," I said, continuing down the stairs.

* * *

A/N: If Maya was raised by a cult that fits the description of the Order of the Impending Storm with no family in it, there would be absolutely no love in it. People selflessly caring for one another is something that she's not used to. So it'll be a slow build up to Maya actually caring for everyone more than she cares for herself, so there's that. We still got more chapters to come. Those missions that I was talking about and maybe a few bonus ones before the Hammerlock's Hunt version. Hope everyone enjoyed this.


	26. Chapter 26- Dust Side Missions

A/N: We'll be doing some of The Dust side missions this chapter. This may seem cheap, but we'll get both the Maggie and the Slagga in this Clan War. Trust me, in my story, we'll be coming out with a lot of Legendaries. Don't worry, everyone else will see their loot too. Don't worry.

* * *

"WAAAA! HELP!" Claptrap yelled, while flailing his arms in the air and rolling away as fast as he could.

"Dukino... stop," I said, while I was struggling not to laugh. I could tell Dukino didn't really take me seriously at the moment, so he didn't stop chasing Claptrap. Dukino had taken one look at Claptrap and just started chasing him around Sanctuary. I could hardly run from trying not to laugh.

"Help!" Claptrap yelled as he began to hide behind me. Dukino ran in front of me, and I crouched down before scratching him on the side of his head to calm him down.

"That's enough boy. Come on. I don't think Claptrap would be beneficial to your diet," I said to Dukino while smiling. Again, Dukino began to roll on his back in pleasure that the scratching was giving him.

"Never come between a skag and his lunch unless you're Robert," Krieg said, walking up to us. "Ellie has a job for you. You want to take it? She'll give you the details when you get there."

"Yeah, I'll take it. I'll take Dukino with me. I think he'll enjoy some bandits to eat," I said, picking up Dukino and holding him under my arm before traveling to the Dust.

I set Dukino down as soon as we got to The Dust and he began running around in excitement. I then went over to Ellie who looked pleased by my arrival.

"Thanks for coming out to see me! Got a fun little project for you," she told me.

"Shoot," I said simply.

"How do you feel about gang wars?" Ellie asked me.

"Think they're fucking stupid," I said in the simplest voice. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, there these two gangs. The Zadfords and Hodunks. They've been having a half-assed feud for years, and I think the world might be a teensy weensy bit better if all of them were dead. Or at least one of them. Grab those explosives from my garage and the clan emblems. The emblems are back in the junkyard," Ellie explained.

"Can do. Let's see what we can get cooking here," I said, rubbing my hands together before going in the garage. I spotted the explosives near a window. Dukino eagerly went for the explosives, but I held them out of his reach while laughing.

"No boy, they're not for eating. You'll have some food. I promise," I told him. I then walked in the back of the junkyard and grabbed the Hodunk emblem.

"Hodunks chose that for their emblems because they like skinny chicks. And they like skinny chicks cause they's pussies," Ellie said, making me shake my head. Guess she's been on the receiving end of that comparison. I then grabbed the Zadford emblem.

"Zadfords chose that emblem for good luck. Which is going to be pretty damn ironic once we're done with them," Ellie said as I returned to her.

"Got everything. What's the plan?" I asked her.

"Here's my plan: you got to Hodunk territory, do that thing you do - by which I mean shoot lotsa people and look damn good doing it - and leave the Zadford emblem as a calling card," Ellie explained, making me get the gist pretty quickly.

"I get it. This is so I can pin the two gangs against each other in the war so they'll kill each other. But that really won't be helping too much. The war will rage on with you right in the middle," I explained to her.

"Don't worry. I got that all worked out too. You see, I figure both sides will need the help of someone like you to pull off the ideas they have to kill each other. Most of their gang isn't good enough. So they'll both pay you money to pull of jobs against the other while you're just playing both sides. You'll get them off my back and get paid excellently in the process," Ellie explained. I loved the sound of this plan. It sounds like it had a lot of pay involved in it for me, which made me very giddy. Unlikely to get any loot, but I didn't care too much because of the money I'm promised if I pull this off.

"Oh, I'm definitely in. Where do I go first?" I asked her.

"First, we need to destroy something of value of the Hodunks and the Zadfords. For the Hodunks, that would the large tire they keep perched on a billboard across from us. The Zadfords have they're prized possession in Overlook, which I'll explain in more detail when you get there. Sound good?" Ellie asked me.

I nodded before checking updates about this so called 'cursed gun' Marcus told me about. And this loot stash Mordecai mentioned.

Marcus told me he sold the Bane to a bandit named Horace, who's ECHO gave an active signal behind Ellie's garage. Mordecai told me a thief named Carson stole his loot stash, and his ECHO was giving off a signal in a Hyperion camp. (Note that if we were tracking where Carson's ECHO was, we would be led to the Friendship Gulag rather than to that bandit camp)

I walked in the back of the area and was met with hordes of spiderants. The smaller ones trying to jump at me and the more developed ones firing their webbing in an attempt to bind me. I dodged the webbing with a familiar feeling. There were two things I could never stand on Hera. Rakk and Spiderants. And this planet had those and more. Things that were even worse. But it was good sport to me.

I drew the Conference Call, wanting to see what this 'powerful' weapon could do. I was never fond of Hyperion weapons by their performance. Everything they made was 'meh' to me. The Bee was a good an amazing amp shield, and ridiculously powerful. But I removed it for a bigger challenge. Kind of got tired killing everything quickly.

The shotgun shot out from the left, middle, and right before converging on the target from all sides for maximum damage. It absolutely _demolished_ the spiderant's thorax with only the pellets on the right. The ones in the middle hit it straight in the head which I bet hurt, while the ones on the left hit the dirt idly. I admit, I was impressed by this gun.

Dukino had gone over to the two spiderlings on my left and quickly tore his jaws into their thoraxes, quickly gulping them down and killing them quickly. Don't know how he found that delicious, but whatever.

Me and Dukino worked our way through the Bug Gulch when I noticed I passed Horace's signal. We turned back to see he was over in a corner of the gulch. I grabbed his ECHO and listened to his dying words.

"McNally took the Bane. It worked like a charm against the Spiderants, but the curse..." Horace said before coughing. "If you're hearing this, find McNally. He may have left me for dead, but he doesn't deserve what the Bane will do to him... No one does..."

My brow furrowed at the sound of this curse. No one seemed to give any indication to what the curse did. I'm wondering what it was and would it be any threat to me throughout my travels. It sounded like a good killing weapon, but there were some drawbacks to it. Just like any other gun. I could probably handle it.

We then walked back to Ellie's garage and digi-structed a Bandit Technical to travel over to this tire Ellie mentioned with Dukino hanging on in the very back of the Technical.

"That there's the third largest tire on Pandora - The Hodunks' pride and joy. They'll be awful disappointed to see it blown the heck up," Ellie said excitedly when I stopped my technical 20 meters from the gate. I was going to need some distance to avoid being blown up and/or crushed. I stuck the explosive on the supports to the billboard and ignited the fuse by holding it in my hand and filling my hand full of fire energy, lighting the fuse straight away.

"I'd back up, cause this is going to be awesome!" Ellie exclaimed.

I teleported around my Technical before going into a kneeling position with my Jakobs sniper drawn. I was expecting company to come crashing in once I blew the gate up. Dukino had also gotten out of the back of the Technical and went into a sprinting position, ready to tear his jaws into whatever he found past the gate.

The explosive went off and the tire fell and crashed into the gate for it to be floored to the ground. Saves me the trouble of having to teleport past it. And I was not disappointed as a number of Hodunk bandits began firing at me with shotguns and SMGs.

I instantly downed one of them with a shot from my Jakobs sniper before I Phaselocked the bandit with the SMG. I then turned to the other Hodunk with the shotgun, who's shots weren't hitting me and whistled for Dukino go after him.

Dukino dodged around his very inaccurate shots and tackled him to the ground before beginning to ripping his stomach open with his powerful jaws and chewing on his organs like chicken and his bones like they were gum. I simply shot the other bandit with my sniper and Dukino went over to his corpse to pick it clean too.

"Now slap that Zadford emblem down!" Ellie told me. I walked over to the tire and placed the clover emblem on the tire before teleporting me and Dukino into the Technical and driving away before anyone could get sights on us. Then I began to hear angry jabbering over the ECHO. Guess they noticed.

"Papa Jimbo sees that disgusting Zadford emblem, and he accepts your challenge Mick Zadford! The seas will run green with Zadford blood!" one of the Hodunks yelled over the ECHO. I smiled in satisfaction.

"Ooh. Haven't heard Jimbo that angry since the time he heard my family was leaving his dumbass clan. Momma didn't wanna raise me and Scooter around a bunch of morons who'd sooner eat a baby than help raise one. That, and one time Jimbo told Moxxi to kill some dude or they was gonna turn me into the clan wife, and she wasn't having none of that so..." I heard just about enough at that point and decided to question her about something.

"You just called your mom by her first name. What, do you not like her or something?" I asked her as I began to find a way to get to Carson's signal.

"We had a big disagreement. I lived in Sanctuary for a while until she began hassling me about working for her, putting on makeup, losing weight. I just got so tired of her nagging that I came out here to make it on my own. That, and I was afraid Scooter might have a crush on me," Ellie said, making my face go into one of disbelief.

"What?" I questioned, only I wasn't the only voice that spoke up. Scooter had joined the line all of a sudden.

"Just a tiny one," Scooter said weakly. I shook my head in disbelief. Scooter was even weirder than I originally thought. But whoever he has a crush on really isn't my business. Even though, I wish I never heard this conversation.

I found out where the Gulag was, and it turns out it was a Hyperion prison. Perfect.

Me and Dukino went on foot and headed inside. He would even chew up these loaders, but he would likely would throw it back up quite often, and I did not want to deal with a barfy skag.

"Dukino, eat anything that's not metal," I told him. He simply dashing forward with me coming behind him in the rear with my Jakobs at the ready. As soon as I sniped the EXP loader, which was the nearest foe to Dukino, an alarm went off before loader and soldier forces alike began coming out to suppress us. Good luck with that.

Dukino started ripping apart the loaders he was near while I charged forward and swapped to my Conference Call and Striker alike before slaughtering whatever came in my crosshairs.

Then surveyors started flying around to try and throw us off. I Phaselocked them one after the other before using the Conference Call to take care of them in one shot. This shotgun was really starting to come into its own.

Dukino was able to rip apart most loaders that came into his path and I was able to take out multiple targets while he was preoccupied with that. When WAR loaders began firing at Dukino when we were reaching the end of the prison, I had to grab him and dive behind cover because he probably wouldn't be able to do too much to it while being filled with a bunch of the loader's bullets before he even got to it.

"Stay here boy. It's better for you that way," I told Dukino. He sat like I told him and I put my shotguns away before swapping to my Hornet.

I turned the corner and fired at the exposed part of the WAR loader's larger guns and severed one of his limbs, cutting him off in mid-fire. During which I was able to teleport next to the loader's severed arm and impale it through him like I did at Thousand Cuts. It was a quick and efficient way to deal WAR loaders. Luckily the corrosion didn't quite spread to the arm, so it wasn't melted.

"Move up Dukino!" I yelled out as I grabbed the arms of a PWR loader's before wrenching my arms high up and tearing them off before killing it with a Hornet shot to its eye. Dukino had gone up out of cover and went for some loaders on my left. I decided to take the time to find where Carson was.

I moved further to the back and noticed a cell with a hole leading out the back. I ripped the bars off and picked up the ECHO off the corpse off the dead bandit in it.

"You'll break us out of here if I tell you, right Mobley?" I could hear Carson ask.

"Course! I'm your pal Carson. Now where's that chest?" the man named Mobley asked aggressively.

"The flats. Buried under a grave. So when do we bust out of here?" Carson asked before there was a series of consecutive gunshots. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

"Carson's dead. A bandit named Mobley killed him. He also got the location of the treasure from him," I told Mordecai.

"Carson's dead? Heh. No surprises there. I've heard of that Mobley guy. Small time bandit. Dangerous. Watch yourself," Mordecai warned before I got a call from Krieg. Then I felt the force of a gunshot hit my shield, which got me moving quickly. Currently, Dukino was having issues with a PWR loader.

"How are you doing?" Krieg asked me.

"Fine. Make it quick," I said as I moved from my position quickly and shot a loader in the eye.

"I finally got around to Tina. She is my daughter," Krieg told me.

"That's good news. You might want to take this time now to get know her. But note the gunshots coming from the loaders currently trying to kill me," I told him as I had to dive out of the way of a singularity grenade. I felt the attempt to pull me closer to the grenade, but luckily I managed to hang on to a rail so I wouldn't go too close to the grenade and avoid getting hurt.

"Noted. See you when you get back. Also, have you taken the time to get to know Maya a bit? We don't know much about her," Krieg noted.

"Yeah, I did. She's a woman of knowledge to put it in simplest words. Music is one thing I can find in common with her," I told him as I shot the arms of the PWR loader holding Dukino up, who immediately proceeded to tear him apart.

"Music? Since when are you into music?" Krieg asked me.

"It's the one thing that I like almost as much as helping people. Sometimes I'll have my ECHO playing loud during some of my jobs and have a Disturbed song playing. Maybe the themes to other games or movies. It all depends on what I feel," I explained as we wrapped up the last of the loaders.

"Heh. That's interesting. Maybe you two can find a little bit more in common, and..."

"Krieg," I said stonily. "I'm not going down that road."

"Sorry. I know the wound's still fresh. It's know it's hard..." Krieg told me, but I cut him off right there.

"No you don't know. Your wife and daughter are still alive," I said bitterly. "My parents died because I wanted to go after the fucking Vault. I wanted to be rich and go down a legend. I should've never left."

"That's not on you, and you know it," Krieg said firmly. I sighed.

"I know. Just... I'll talk to you later," I said, ending the call. I shook my head and knew I had to get my head in the game.

I took me and Dukino out of the Gulag and headed to the flats that I heard on the ECHO. Hopefully Mobley didn't get to it before I did. There were a bunch of graves and I sighed. This was probably going to take a while.

I decided to go for the grave in the middle and the chest was there.

"Are you fucking serious?" I said, before smiling at my luck. The treasure was mine.

"Finally! I've been waiting in that church for hours for someone to dig up that treasure in case it was booby trapped. Now hand it over," Mobley threatened.

"How about you fuck off before I kill you. This treasure is mine," I snarled at him, raising a fist imbued with fire.

"Get away from the stash, bandits!" a man in Hyperion armor yelled, descending on us by jetpack. I think this was Gettle.

"Dammit, Vault Hunter! You lead that Hyperion jackass here?" Mobley accused.

"Me? You're the one who escaped from his prison," I told him.

"You bandits put down your guns, and get back from the stash NOW!" Gettle yelled. I drew my Conference Call.

"Not on your life," I told him, preparing for a fight.

"Better idea jackass! We all draw when the church bell rings for the third time!" Mobley suggested.

"A truxican standoff? Fine," Gettle agreed.

A bell rung out and I prepared myself with my gun standing by. Two... Three...

"DRAW!" Mobley yelled, instantly walking to the side. Gettle took to the skies with his jetpack and instantly went for me.

I responded by firing my Conference Call twice while he was in mid-air and it broke through his armor and shield, but he was still alive, the shot stunning him and throwing off his flying pattern.

Mobley had suddenly gotten close and whacked me hard enough to throw me off balance while Gettle had gotten back on the attack and clawed me hard in my shoulder, breaking my shield and leaving a gash in there.

I got angry and grabbed him by the neck and cutting his head clean off before throwing it at Mobley, who shot it to pieces.

I teleported behind Mobley and knocked his gun out of his hand before grabbing him by the neck. I drew my sword and impaled him through his chest, dragging the sword from collar line to stomach before removing the sword out of his chest and cutting him in half. (The MKX Predator Brutality with a sword to put it in simplest terms)

I grabbed his ECHO before emptying everything in the ECHO. Just about everything wasn't very impressive except a unique Dahl assault rifle. I had to run some tests on it before trying it out.

Next I checked out the Hyperion guy's ECHO which had a nice looking Vladof sniper rifle. Shock element too. They both look like so really good loot. I then opened the chest and was met with a nice explosion of loot.

"Woooo!" I yelled in celebration.

"Congrats. Hope you make better use of those than I did," Mordecai told me.

Disappointingly, most of the loot was ass. Though I was introduced to slag transfusion grenades, which seemed very beneficial for healing me and making sure my enemy was easy to kill. On the off chance I do get hurt. I was also over a thousand bucks richer, which was always good. Now continue with the rest of these jobs.

* * *

A/N: I thought about doing both The Bane and the Clan War in this one chapter, but I'm a little lazy and it would run over too long. Either way, we got the Lyuda(amazing sniper) and the Veruc(terrible assault rifle. Hate the spread of it) Hope you all enjoyed.


	27. Chapter 27- Joining the Zadfords

A/N: Now hopefully I'll be able to finish the Dust side missions and move on to the next bit of missions. After we finish the Bane and the Clan War missions, we'll move on to Uncle Teddy and then this story will be finished before I move on to the Hammerlock's Hunt missions, so I hope you'll all enjoy that. On that one, I do every mission except for that 'I Like My Monsters Rare' mission. There's no way to write that mission without it being boring and drawn on, so I'll just exclude it all together. (I decided to get rid of that fucking essay I had written. The point has gotten across)

* * *

"Gar's coming from Lynchwood to buy it. That idiot's got no idea - He never believed the stories about the curse. Boy, oh boy. Is he in for a surprise," I heard on McNally's ECHO. I frowned. It was a wild goose chase for a gun that could potentially lead to my death. Either way, I invested this much into time into looking for it. I would at least take the time to sell it into the hands of the next guy willing to buy. Specifically, Marcus' vending machine for some quick bucks.

But I decided stray away from the route of The Bane for now and focus on the Clan War and get the Zadfords fired up before the Hodunks did anything to ruin the plan before I even got a chance to squeeze as much money out of these bandits as I could. At least one clan was going to die. Might as well get as much money out of this as I could.

I dropped Dukino back at Sanctuary cause I didn't want Dukino accidentally giving my location away before I went to trick the Zadfords. The Zadford base was near Overlook, so that's where I went. Eventually, I reached a sizable building with a large distillery next to it.

"I'm here at the destination you marked for me. What's next on the agenda?" I asked Ellie.

"You're near the Holy Spirits. That's the Zadford base of operations. Boy, oh boy, are they gonna be pissed when they see what we got in store for them," Ellie said in an excited tone.

"What_ are_ we doing to them?" I asked, taking out the explosive.

"There's one easy way to piss of a Zadford - destroy their liquor. Just place those charges on the distillery and start running!" Ellie told me.

I placed the explosive on the distillery, but before I lit it, I poured a little from the faucet into my hands and took a drink. It was some good liquor.

"Whew! No wonder they like this stuff!" I said, liking the taste of this liquor.

"Just take as much as you want before you destroy. I'm sure you don't want to waste good liquor," Ellie told me.

"No I don't," I said before contacting Moxxi on the ECHO. "Moxxi?"

"Well this is a pleasant surprise. How can I help you sugar?" she asked me.

"How much would you pay for a distillery full of liquor?" I asked.

"What kind of liquor?" Moxxi asked.

"The stuff the Zadfords keep at the Holy Spirits," I told her.

"Oh sugar, that's the good stuff. The really expensive stuff. Zadfords spare no expense to get the best liquor. I'd pay you 25 grand for the stuff," Moxxi said, making my eyes widen.

"It's that good?" I asked in disbelief.

"You're looking at over a hundred thousand dollars worth of liquor, and a lady's got to make a profit somehow. How bout it? It's a fourth of what it's worth," Moxxi asked, making me ponder the prices a bit more.

"I'll go for a third of what it's worth," I told her.

"Deal. I see no problem with that. Bring it to me, and I'll pay you once I've gotten it sold. Plus you still get it free here, so you have good privileges," Moxxi told me.

"I'll send it to you by mail. Check the bounty board for it in the next 5 to 10 minutes," I said, cutting off the ECHO. I then cracked my neck before gripping the bottom of the distillery and lifting off its supports before carrying it toward the bounty board in Overlook, which got a little more difficult because of the slight incline up to Overlook, and then I mailed the whole thing using the bounty board before contacting Brick.

"Hey Slab, what you need?" he asked me cheerfully.

"Hey, I just sent a distillery over to Sanctuary, and I expect Moxxi won't be able to carry it. Could you get it and help her install it? I'll pay you if needed," I told Brick.

"You don't have to pay me. I'll be glad to do it. There are 3 things I like doing - punching stuff, carrying stuff, and killing stuff. Not in that order though," Brick said, making me shake my head and laugh.

"Alright, thanks for the help Brick," I said, ending the call. I looked over at the Holy Spirits. It didn't look like they noticed that they're distillery's completely gone. I then decide to teleport over with Dukino and place the Hodunk emblem near where the distillery was. Instead of using the explosive, I just aimed my gun toward a window(I don't know if this building has windows, but just roll with it) and let out a whole clip of my Emperor through it before teleporting toward Overlook and waiting for the backlash.

"What the hell?! Who done killed 2 of me men? Piss on me eyes?! Is that the Hodunk family emblem I see? _And_ our distillery's missing? Dem bastards broke the truce! You redneck will regret messing with Mick Zadford! We'll kill every last one of ya sister humping hillbillies!" Mick Zadford yelled in an angry tone. I snickered at his rage. He didn't even think of the fact he would've saw a bunch of slow, idiotic rednecks running away after an action like that.

"Heh. He sounds pissed. I bet he's already working on a plan to strike back at those Hodunks, and he'll need the help of someone like you!" Ellie said cheerfully. Sure enough...

"I'm calling out all gun hands to help me stamp out the Hodunks! I pay in blood, booze, and bullets! Come to the Holy Spirits bar!" Mick exclaimed.

"That worked perfectly. I'll stop by a little later. It wouldn't make sense if I arrived so fast after he sent the message," I told Ellie.

"No problem sweetheart. As long as you can get it done, I don't care how long it takes. They certainly won't be worried about me anymore," Ellie said just as happily as before. I decided to go ahead and track down where I left off with the Bane before I went to go visit Mick Zadford. So I Fast Traveled to Lynchwood and gratefully, there weren't any bandits around to shoot at me. Either they're not coming back or they're taking their sweet ass time.

I tracked the signal near the area where I killed The Sheriff and traveled further to notice that Gar was lying dead with a gun, an ECHO, and a map next to him. He had obviously committed suicide. I picked both items up and began to play the ECHO.

"Had to get rid of it..." Gar moaned weakly on the ECHO. And I bet you anything this map would lead me to The Bane. Dunno why he bothered to leave a map for me to follow, but I wasn't complaining.

I followed the map to the where it marked and I ended up at an isolated grave near the mining section of Lynchwood. I rolled up my sleeves before starting to dig, using my sword for the more rougher parts of dirt where I couldn't get a decent grip. Then I was met with a corpse and The Bane right next to it.

I picked the gun up and began to examine it. It was a Hyperion SMG and to be honest, it looked pretty decent of a gun. Now what about this curse they mentioned? I pulled the trigger and I was met with the shrillest yelling I ever heard.

"RATATATTAT!" the shrilly voice yelled.

I looked at the gun with a look of disbelief before walking over to the edge to dispose of the gun when my body parts felt harder to move.

"Fuck this gun. It's not even worth selling," I said before melting the gun in my hands before scattering the remains all in the grave and putting the dirt back. Some things are better left buried. That was not worth the time I invested into it. Not a damn piece of loot or cash to make up for the bullets and time I spent. Nothing to do but head back to the Fast Travel station and go to The Holy Spirits to work my way into the Zadfords good books.

I walked inside to what was basically a bar and I looked for the one guy who didn't look like carbon copies over any others. I noticed a man with a dark green bowler hat that a leprechaun would have. I guess this was Mick Zadford.

"You said you had a job for a gun hand?" I asked him.

"Ah, a new recruit. Welcome to the Zadford family," Mick greeted me jovially. "You didn't see the bastard who killed me men and destroyed my distillery, did ya?"

"Nah. I just got here not too long ago," I said, which was technically right. I couldn't exactly see myself. But Mick didn't seem very put off by it.

"I'd get you a drink, but those bastards made off with me distillery!" Mick exclaimed, his temper flaring up. "That's IT! The truce is off! You - Vault Hunter. Let's talk."

"Let's talk business," I said, rubbing my hands together in eagerness. He handed me 1000 bucks pre-paid. Nice.

"That's your payment for this job. If you're willing to help me get them Hodunk bastards?" Mick said, making me nod in agreement. "Good. If there's anything they like more than getting to second base with their sisters, it's cars. I want you to get out there and ruin their race. Come into me basement." He then began to walk off out and I followed him with my hands in my pockets. I was pretty chill so far. This would be any other job with any other objective. I've taken jobs far harder than this. Only difference is that I don't give a shit about my employers besides Ellie.

"You picked the right family in this war boyo. Ages back, a Hodunk drowned a few Zadford boys in the creek bed. After an ex-Hodunk killed me boy Lucky a few years back, we made a truce - but after what happened to our men and our distillery, it sounds like the war's back on," Mick explained. I pondered this information for a minute. If what Mick said was true, I knew which clan was going to die. Definitely the Hodunks.

Mick led me down to his basement before opening a box full of explosives.

"Grab that dynamite like a good lad," Mick told me. I grabbed all the dynamite out of the box and put it in my ECHO. And I knew where I was going.

"Now get down The Dust. I'll be at the bar if you need me." Mick then walked out of the basement with me already past him. Time to get to work.

* * *

A/N: Would've made this longer, but I'm keeping these chapters at more of an average pace. And yes. That is what I thought of the Bane the first time I got it, but I did in fact sell it. But now I keep it on me just annoy the fuck out of people in public lobbies. lol. Either way, hope you enjoyed.


	28. Chapter 28 - Ending The War

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates as of late. I did a ridiculous amount of editing and redoing on one of my other stories. But I did update this. Some of the chapters have new dialogue, but not all of them. But all of them have been corrected of any mistakes I may have made. More mistakes may have been made when I was editing, but for the most part, it should be good. So I haven't just been sitting on my ass doing nothing for this story. But now I'm back on track. I've also decided to add the Overlook missions. There's the possibility that Karima contacted me herself to get help for the town. So there's that.

There shouldn't be too many chapters left for this. But in case you didn't notice by the scroller on the side, this chapter is going to be long as hell. It's going to consist of the entire Clan War and the Overlook missions.

A note to Ed in simple terms: I'm an asshole. It's how I live life, and I accept it. Sometimes being an asshole is just fun. Nothing against you, Ryan, or anyone else. It's how I am. And next time, come up with a more suiting term than butthurt. No matter who says it, the term is just plain stupid.

P.S: If you haven't seen Tales of The Borderlands, I recommend that you do. All the episodes are finally out and story wise, that game is the shit. Plus you're going to miss some crucial details that'll be in the next game if you don't watch it. Like the possible characters you'll be playing as. And characters that will be in Ruler of Eridia.

P.P.S: I've decided that instead of the DLCs, I'm going to make an alternate fic. A 'what might have been' with my OC. Basically, it would cover what would happen if Jack didn't double cross me. It'll be called 'Hyperion Vault Hunter.' I'm hoping it'll be good. Like instead of Roland, Lilith, Brick, Mordecai, and the rest of Sanctuary being my allies, they'll be my enemies. This story may even have sequels. Yeah, I'm starting to come up with more inventive shit. I hope you all enjoy it! I'm putting time and effort into this shit! lol. But I'm still happy to do it.

P.P.P.S: (So many Ps. lol.) There will be a lemon chapter. No more, no less. It has absolutely no relevance to the plot really other than a 'just cause' chapter. The conditions might seem very uncharacteristic to some people, but it's the best idea I had. Roll with it when it comes. NOW lets get into the chapter.

* * *

Thanks to the tire destroying the gate when I first got here, and the fact they had no security made getting in very easy.

I drove further out and next to a line of stairs leading up to the track. I saw one of the Hodunks sitting down on a bench. The fireworks on the track wouldn't make for the best cover if he started shooting at me, but I could snipe him if he does shoot at me. I went to place the explosives on the fireworks. I tried to do it in a way that wouldn't raise any suspicion.

"Hey, whatchu doing down there? Double checking all the fireworks? It's cool man. I already did that. Thanks though!" the Hodunk yelled at me. I smiled. He thought I was double checking all the fireworks.

"No problem!" I yelled back at him as I placed the explosive on the third box of fireworks. I then went over to the fourth box and placed an explosive on that one before clapping my hands together.

"That's done. What's next?" I asked Mick.

"Now get to the detonator on top of their pyrotechnic's nest. It'll be a great place to watch the destruction," Mick said eagerly. I smiled. I do like big explosions.

I walked down the track and climbed the ladder up to where you the pyrotechnic was.

"Kill that pyrotechnic. No witnesses," Mick told me in a hard tone. I simply went next to the couch the pyrotechnic was sitting on and crossed my arms while looking directly at the track.

"Do do do do do. Whatchu doing up here man?" the Hodunk asked me.

"Nothing. Just came here to watch the fireworks," I said, drawing my Jakobs pistol and shooting him three times in the head just in case he had a shield. "Too bad you won't be seeing them." I walked up to the detonator and waited for the race to start.

"It's race time, Hodunks! Three... two... One... BURN RUBBER!" the Hodunk commentator on the loud speaker yelled.

"The race is starting! Blow the explosives once the cars reach em!" Mick told me. I grabbed the railing next to the detonator and began tapping my finger on it.

"The cars have just reached the roundabout! I can hardly believe my eyes!" the commentator exclaimed. I then began stylishly twirling my Jakobs revolver in a minor form of entertainment until the cars arrived.

"Keep your eyes on the bridge, racing fans! You're about to see some sweet ass jumps!" the commentator exclaimed. Looks they were close to the bridge.

"The cars have almost reached the fireworks - prepare for AWESOME!" I then made my revolver disappear and pressed the switch once all 3 cars were on the bridge. A combination of fireworks and sweet, fiery death went off in from of my face. I smiled widely. This job was easy money.

"Whoo whee! Good job sweetheart! I saw those explosions from here! Get back to my garage and we'll see about getting the Hodunks some revenge for their messed up race track," Ellie told me happily.

I jumped down to my car and began driving off back toward Ellie's garage. If this war continues for days, weeks, or months even, I was going to be rich as hell once this is all said and done. Plus I'm helping bandit clans wipe each other out, making it all the easier to kill them while wasting less bullets to kill their entire army.

I drove back to Ellie's garage and hit the brakes before leaping out of the Technical with a flip and walking in front of her. She then handed me even more money for doing that job, which I was all too happy to accept.

"After this red harvest between the two clans, you're gonna be the last man standing with a fistful of dollars! Yo Jimbo," Ellie said. I put the cash up before cracking my knuckles.

"Alright, what's next?" I asked eagerly. I was plenty eager to get paid.

"You should hear a message from the Hodunks any minute now..." Ellie trailed.

"This is a planet wide ECHO requesting strong, loyal soldiers who don't ask too many questions! Help the Hodunk family defeat the Zadford cusshounds!" I heard a Hodunk exclaim. I could only assume he was the leader. Or one of them.

On that note, I did a backflip back into my Technical and took off toward where the signal from the Hodunk came from. What a lot of people don't know is that ECHOs are useful tools, but they all have universal locators.

You can send out a signal if you want people to find you, but if you want to hide yourself, it just makes things difficult. I removed the locator off after Maya told me about it a few days ago. Smart girl. Explains why Jack could find exactly where I was all the damn time.

Anyway, I drove toward the Hodunk gate, but now there was an old man in a wheelchair and a bigger Hodunk behind him. I guess the old one was the big guy's father. The big one was probably Jimbo.

"You called for a soldier?" I asked, twirling my Jakobs revolver with my right middle finger. Then the old man went into a babble that I couldn't understand. I looked at who I could assume was his son.

"What is he saying?" I asked him.

"Paw wants your help waging war on those puke-green Zadfords. Yer going to clean out their cash stash for us. We got a dead drop out in the Highlands with all the details - go geddit," he told me.

"Cash stash? What's my cut in all of this?" I asked. "Cause I'm not doing this unless you can cough up enough loot."

"You pull this off, everything the cash stash is yours. We don't really care about it," he said. "I'm sure it'll be more than enough to pay you. Those Zadford bastards are greedy." I smiled. I'm sure this would suit me just fine.

"Oh, that'll be just fine. Where's the dead drop?" I asked.

"Under a table in the Zadford's bar. One of our men managed put it under a table up some stairs. It should have a signal broadcasting so you know exactly where it is," Jimbo told me. I was kind of impressed. Maybe these hillbillies aren't as dumb as you would think.

I gave them both a salute before I got back in my Technical. I drove towards Ellie's garage to get to the Fast Travel so I could get to Overlook. But before I could continue further, I could hear a voice call out to me.

"V-V-Vault Hunter," it said. I stopped and looked toward where I heard the voice. It was coming from a house that was on my left. I walked over to it and saw that it was a hologram of a woman on a door.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

"M-my name is K-Karima. I'm Overlook's a-ad-administrator. A lot of us a-are nearly dead from the sk-skull shivers. We n-need your help Vault Hunter," she told me. My attention was immediately focused on this. The Hodunk's job could wait.

"Yeah. Do you have any idea where I might find medicine for this condition?" I asked. I knew the skull shivers was treatable with medicine, but anyone who got it on Hera was easily able to get some out of a medical vendor. And it cost practically nothing.

"Y-Yes. There is some skull shiver medication in three s-specific vendors around the Highlands. One is in the vendor in our town, b-but there's no battery for it. Please, climb the clock tower and remove the clock's b-battery," Karima told me.

I nodded before teleporting to the top of the tower. I noticed an open crate below and I jumped down there and saw that a battery was in fact hooked up to the tower.

I ripped the plugin off the battery and held it under my right arm before teleporting back down. I took about 3 steps before I picked up an ECHO signal.

"Goddammit, some jackhole broke the clock tower! How am I supposed to know what time it is now?!" the man on it exclaimed. I made a face of disbelief before I shook it off. I didn't know this guy, but I knew he was very fucking dumb to prioritize knowing the time over medicine for a disease that's killing everyone in the town. Besides, we have ECHOs for that. I then put the battery in the medical vendor and activated the machine.

"Got the medical vendor working. I'll have the first dose of medicine for you in no time," I told Karima.

"Yes! You've found the battery! Plug it into our medicine machine and buy some skull shiver medication p-please. Once I find out who thought we needed a running clock more badly than we needed shiver medication, they will be thoroughly reprimanded," Karima told me.

"I heard some guy talking about how some 'jackhole broke the clock tower.' He sounded like a stereotypical redneck," I told her after buying some medication.

"D-Dave! He's the antisocial creep that none of us talk to. He will be dealt with at the end of this, but for now, we need to get the rest of this medicine. We need two more medicine shipments. The other is being transported by a Hyperion distribution officer," Karima told me.

"Ah. Say no more. I'll make sure to get it," I assured her walking off.

I summoned a Technical from the Catch-A-Ride outside of Overlook and started heading toward the one of the Hyperion areas I remembered during my first time here.

Once I reached the main road, I noticed a Hyperion Engineer walking on the road with the medical vendor on his back. Definitely who I was looking for.

To preserve the sake of the medical vendor, I stopped when I was a considerable distance away and climbed on my vehicle while crouching. I sniped him in the head and he was killed on the spot. The loaders that were escorting him turned their attention to me.

I Phaselocked one of the loaders before teleporting under the other loader and jumping high in the air with my sword raised to cut the robot in half. I then drew my Striker and shot the other loader's cannon arms enough to where if fell off. I then released it from its suspension before quickly dashing past the robot with my sword at my side, cutting me it in half.

"Finally," I said, going over to the officer's medical vendor and bought the second shipment of medicine.

"Great! You're very efficient. I respect that. The last shipment was being delivered by boat, but we lost contact. Find it. P-please," Karima said desperately. I quickly hopped back in my Technical and drove toward where the third shipment was located. There seemed to be a couple of shipping crates that were blasted from the Hyperion space statin. One of them has to have the medicine.

As soon as I spotted the crate, I teleported out of my vehicle and in front of the crate. I hit the button to open the crate, but there were a few loud, guttural roars that made me spin around quickly with my shock Maliwan SMG. I could see Threshers were trying to surround me.

"T-Threshers?! Be careful!" Karima said in a frightened voice.

"I'll be fine," I assured her as I shot the threshers in the eyes. I had to keep moving because they were shooting those stupid spikes at me from their tentacles.

I had to teleport a few times to avoid some of the spikes. I preferred not to get hit at all if possible. At least they were all dead within a few moments. I then went over to the last medical vendor and bought the last shipment.

"That's all of the medicine shipments. I'm heading back now with them," I said, hopping back in my Technical and driving back toward Overlook.

"You got all the medicine? Efficient. Very efficient. Now please d-d-distribute that medicine around town. I'd do it myself, but Hyperion doesn't... doesn't like it when we leave our homes," Karima told me. I tightened my fist into a ball. I couldn't fucking stand these people living in fear because of Hyperion. But I didn't dare say anything for my own peace of mind.

I drove back toward Overlook and started looking around and placing medicine inside the houses Karima marked for me. This was nice. Using my violent capabilities to help others. Made me feel like a good person.

"Appreciated," the guy from the first house said. The guy from the second house didn't say anything. Prick. I'm saving your ass and I'm not even guaranteed money for this. But once I got to the third house, I was met with an unpleasant reaction.

"Screw you! You can bring me medicine all day! It doesn't make you any less of a skag sucker!" Dave yelled at me.

"You ungrateful son of a bitch. I'll take it back then," I said. He quickly snatched the medicine form the slot. I frowned. I did not like this guy at all. I was probably gonna end up killing him by the end of the day if someone else doesn't do it.

"Sorry about Dave. He's a... we try not to talk to him. Return to me for your reward," Karima told me. I walked back to the door and she slid a couple of hundred bucks through one of the slots. By the flash of white I could see before the money was released, I could tell she was wearing gloves. Maybe this disease is more infectious that I thought.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Yes. Now that our brains aren't rotting from the inside, let's move on to point two of my agenda: revolt. If we are to shake off Hyperion control, the town will need a shield like Sanctuary's to protect it from moonshot blitzes. If you could donate some shields to the town, I could scavenge them and build us a shield," Karima explained to me. "Just drop whatever shields you no longer want into the grinder."

"Could you show me how to do it when you're finished? It would be an effective way to power our shields if we can't find the power cores we need for the main generator," I told Karima. To be honest, since Hyperion has little to no control over just about anything on Pandora anymore, the shield wouldn't really be necessary.

"Yes, I definitely could. I'll make sure to show you once I get the shield parts," Karima told me. I nodded. This was good news.

I had about 3 extra shields that I didn't use and neglected to sell. I dropped them into the grinder and watched them grind up.

"Yes, just like that! A few more shields and I'll be able to build us a defense shield out of the parts. I was a computer engineer before Overlook's administrator died and left me in charge," Karima told me.

"That's impressive of you. You're a very talented woman," I said kindly before picking up the parts.

"Why thank you," she said.

"Karima, you can't build us no techy shieldy thing. Yous a WOMAN! Now if the town needed us to make a big ol sandwich, THEN we'd call you," I heard Dave said. I balled my right hand into a fist that lit on fire. Let's just say I got VERY upset when people judged others based on race, gender, or anything of the sort.

"I got a fucking sandwich for you," I snarled.

"Ignore him. That's what I do. Just focus on getting those parts," Karima told me.

I took a deep breath before going over to the vending machines and buying two shield to dump into the grinder. Didn't really matter to me which ones I bought. I just needed a few more to plant into the grinder.

"Thanks for the gear stranger. I'm able to build a shield for you. Grab the scrap and bring it to me," Karima told me. I picked up the shield parts and gave them to her through a slot. Through her hologram, she showed me how she built the machine. It was definitely going to be invaluable in protecting Sanctuary.

"Ya'lls just gonna blow yourselves up. Better quit now!" Dave said once she finished the machine.

"Ignore him. Overlook's shield is finished, and I would very much like your help in testing it. Head to the Hyperion outpost near... by and get to the mortar cannon on the launch pad," Karima told me. Since Maya and Krieg had killed all the Hyperion soldiers and loaders in the outpost, it would be pretty easy.

"Hey Karima? You know what's better than having a working shield? Not being a woman!" Dave said, laughing like a fucking idiot. Killing him would be a little too harsh when he hadn't done anything to merit death, but that won't stop me from possibly breaking every bone in his body.

"Oh, my God. Shut up Dave," Karima said. This guy was really sexist, and it pissed me off.

Regardless of how angry I was, I took a Bandit Technical and got near the outpost before teleporting to the switch. Being able to teleport saves me so much time when you add it all up.

"Alright, I'm here up by the mortar," I told Karima.

"Who's that skagsucking MORON up by the cannon?" Dave said.

"I can snipe you from here, you know. It's best for you to quiet down," I warned him. He shut up.

"Please ignore Dave and fire the cannon 55 degrees portbound, 86 degrees skyloft. We'll need Overlook to sustain a direct hit from the mortar to test the shield," Karima told me. I turned the knobs in the appropriate direction before the small shield covering the firing button was removed.

"Now, fire the cannon," Karima told me. I hit the button and a mortar was shot toward the city. But it didn't look like it was being shot toward the center.

"Karima, don't feel bad Jack fed yer husband to the grinder. Well, I'll bed ya if you asked nicely!" Dave said, laughing wheezily. God, can this fucker crawl into a hole and die?

"AAAHHHHHHHH!" I heard him scream out. When I paid attention in the distance, I saw that the cannon was aimed at Dave's shack. I started laughing so hard at this, I felt like my lungs were going to stop working. (This actually happened when I did this mission. I shouldn't be the only one who found that hilarious)

"Now, let's try that with the shield on," Karima said. This time, I noticed that the shield was actually on this time around. I was grinning widely like a fool. Ask and ye shall receive when it comes to the death of assholes.

I turned the cannon to get more of an accurate aim toward the center which is a more likely place to be targeted and locked in the aim coordinates.

"Please fire the cannon again," Karima asked politely. I hit the button again and when the mortar made contact with the shield, it shimmered, but held still. The sign of a firm shield.

"Excellent! The shield works and no Dave! This is truly a happy day. Return to me for your reward," Karima told me.

"Gladly," I said, teleporting back to my Technical and driving back toward Overlook. To be honest, I was becoming more Pandoran the more I stayed on this planet. I was willing to kill people just for words. But it didn't necessarily feel like a bad thing. I guess we were all bad people.

I walked back in front of Karima's place and she paid me several hundred bucks in cash and gave me a shield.

"You know my favorite thing about Dave? He's dead," Karima said dispassionately. I shook my head before walking away. I love this planet.

I then walked into the Holy Spirits and walked to the Dead Drop that I spotted under the table. Judging by the fact all of the Zadfords were drunk and there was still no distillery outside suggested they had gotten a delivery or something of the sort. I then let the ECHO play.

"The Zadfords got a secret cash stash around here, but we ain't sure where. The bagman leaves the Zadford bar every so often. Pa wants you to tail him to the stash, then rob the place. But don't get too close to him!" the recording played. I then went downstairs and looked around for any place that might lead to the cash stash. Then I noticed a door that was previously locked was open, judging how it's green now and it was red before.

I walked past the bar's participants and opened the door before closing behind me. I looted the containers in a bunch of the containers in this room, which added to a couple of thousand dollars. God, these guy's were loaded. And I haven't even gotten to the cash stash yet. Hell, this would be the most profitable out of all the jobs.

I walked near an edge before I heard loud jabbering and saw a door open in front of me. I quickly took cover behind the crate right next to me.

"That there's the bagman! Follow him to the cash stash, but don't get to close!" Jimbo told me. Once the bagman turned the corner, I leaped down and took cover behind the crate around the corner.

"Is someone there?" the bagman suddenly said. I listened closely for his footsteps just in case I needed to teleport back.

"Keep your distance man," Jimbo hissed, but I ignored him. I just stayed where I was while remaining silent and patient. When I heard footsteps and saw his shadow was getting thinner, I knew he was walking away from me instead of toward me. Good.

I heard a thud that sounded like it hit ground, so I peeked around the corner and saw that there was a hole leading down underground. I moved from behind cover and landed without a sound. Thank God for soft soled shoes. Helped you land silent as the wind. Thought it's hard to make them soft soled and steel toed. You had to be a skilled shoemaker to do that.

Being a mercenary was easy. Being the best was hard. My dad taught me some of the simplest shit that would help in being a mercenary, yet it was more than useful advice when the situation called for it.

I quickly caught up to the bagman and slowed down when I could see him. Cause if I could see him, he could probably see me.

"Bloody Hodunks been trying to kill us fer years. Kept saying that Scooter feller who killed Lucky ain't part of their family anymore, but we know the real truth, don't we voice in me head?" the bagman asked. This guy was nuts. "Ha! Good joke, voice in me head! You always know just what to say."

He continued forward when I saw all of a sudden he turned around. I went prone on the ground and I was practically one with the dirt.

"Am I being followed? Nah, impossible," the bagman said in a doubtful tone. I smiled. He was so sure of himself.

"Just a few more years of making these trips to the cash stash, and maybe pop will finally love me. I'm a much better son than Lucky. I'm spritely, I'm more talkative, and I wasn't buried alive in a shallow grave. One of me best qualities that is." the bagman said. "I agree, voice in me head."

I just kept listening to his rant cause it was the only form of entertainment I had while I was tailing this guy to the cash stash. But right now, we've just been going straight the entire time. Did I just have to follow this cave the entire time?

"Nearly to the cash stash now. I can't wait to get inside and not be ambushed. That's my favorite part about these trips really. Not getting followed and ambushed," the bagman said, jumping down another opening. I wanted to burst out laughing at the irony of the situation.

I followed him down the opening and saw that there was a ton of chests around. Likely filled to the brim with cash.

"Whoo wee baby! That there's the cash! Wax that bagman and take what they got!" Jimbo exclaimed. I smiled and teleported behind him before snapping his neck in a quick move before he could even turn around. Easy money. I then took a key off him, that looked like it matched all of the holes in the boxes.

"Pa says you can open all them cash boxes now that you've got the bagman's key!" Jimbo exclaimed. Perfect.

I walked around and looted every chest in the area. There were at least a couple of thousand bucks in every big chest. Not counting the small boxes around. I walked out with over a hundred and fifty grand. Goddamn, these Zadfords were rich. This was enough money to pay off any other jobs for a while, but I wasn't going to let them know that.

"You messed up the Zadford cash stash, huh? That's great. I hear they're planning something pretty ugly to get back at those Hodunks. Thanks for helping me out with this by the way. My ma always says I wouldn't survive an all out clan war war with these idiots. I guess part of me wanted to prove her wrong," Ellie explained to me.

"Not a problem. I'm happy to help with this job. I'm not about to leave you out here to die," I told Ellie, looting the chest that I found lying near the elevator pad. They were just a couple of SMGs, but I would sell them regardless.

I walked out of the Holy Spirits with a confident stride and like I hadn't just taken all of their money and went back to The Dust. I then contacted Pa Hodunk cause I figure he's the best one to let know.

"The bagman's dead and the cash stash has been looted," I told him in an even tone. He then went off in some kind of rant that I couldn't understand a word of. But I didn't really care about what he said.

"I got another job for ya boyo. Meet with my man out in The Dust. He'll give you the details," Mick told me.

"You could just tell me now. The communicators help get these jobs done more efficiently," I told him. Then Mick's tone quickly turned furious.

"They killed my boy. The Hodunks some... hick to track my boy Peter to the cash stash. And then dey murdered him like an animal. Never hurt a soul he didn't. There's only one thing to do: Burn their trailers to the ground. Do it after sundown. I want to see their flaming homes burning against the midnight sky. Wait it out and then get it done," he told me.

He wants to burn them alive while they're sleeping? Hardcore, Mick. Hardcore. I like it.

"Got another job?" Ellie asked me.

"Yeah, but I'll have to wait till nightfall. I'll be back in a couple of hours when it's night. Plus in case someone spots me, I want to make sure they can't recognize me," I told her.

"Smart. This is why they're running around angry at the wrong people. Cause we're playing it smart," Ellie told me. I nodded and traveled back to Sanctuary before stretching. Good opportunity to relax before I had to head out.

I walked up the stairs and saw Lilith having a conversation with Brick and Mordecai.

"So... what now?" Brick asked.

"Yeah, someone's gotta deal with all those new Vaults," Mordecai said.

"Dibs," me and Brick said at the same time. Lilith and Mordecai shook their heads while me and Brick high-fived each other. Hell, I only opened one Vault and I got no loot out of it.

"You both can't call dibs on hunting hundreds of Vaults," Lilith said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"Says you," Brick said.

"Hell we'll divide them. The point is, we're all getting loot for our efforts," I said smiling. But I saw that Lilith had a more thoughtful look on her face. "Alright, spit it out gurl. Whatchu you thinking?"

The three of them looked slightly surprised by my choice of wording, but I shook me head quickly.

"Sorry. Tina's rubbing off on me a little. I'm serious," I told them.

"Well, I think before we head off to deal with those Vaults, we gotta rebuild. Get a new shield for Sanctuary, wipe Hyperion off the map... and bury our fallen. Jack may be dead, but we're not done fighting. Not by a long shot," Lilith explained.

"As far as shields go, I think I got a solution to that," I told Lilith. She smiled.

"Good. The faster we get this done, the better," she said.

"I hear ya. Whatchu think Brick?" Mordecai asked.

"I think me and my Slab over here already called dibs on the Vault hunting!" Brick exclaimed, pounding his fist on his hand. I started laughing while Mordecai shook his head and Lilith sighed. There was no getting through to Brick. At least right now.

"Hey, I'm gonna chill for a bit. Could any of you let me know when night falls?" I asked her.

"Why night?" Lilith asked me.

"Cause one of my jobs involves me doing burning some houses to the ground at night so my employer can see them burn in the night sky," I said idly while Lilith looked at me strangely. "Zadford Hodunk clan war."

"Hodunk? Isn't that the clan Moxxi used to be in?" Mordecai asked.

"Yup. And they're probably gonna be dead after I end this war. I've been playing both sides like crazy. It's been job after job so far," I told them.

"Is the pay good?" Brick asked.

"I got paid a hundred and fifty grand for the last job. Better believe it bud," I said smiling.

"Nice. Sounds like this war is getting you paid quite a bit," Lilith said.

"Better believe it. But imma go relax though. Just help a brotha out and let me know when night falls," I said, going back to my bunk and saw Maya was lying on a bunk reading a book. She looked from her book and glanced at me.

"Hey Robert," she said, looking back at her book.

"Hey, my fellow Siren. I see you're enjoying your book," I said, lying in the bed next to hers. These bunks weren't the most comfortable, but they were good enough.

"Yeah, I am. Just got back from a job and I'm waiting it out a little for the next one. How bout you? You finish your set of jobs?" I asked her.

"Yup. I finished Scooter's jobs and even got a few from Marcus. Got myself about 50 grand out of it," Maya said.

"Good shit. Glad to see you're adjusting to your new life," I told her nodding. "You seen Krieg?"

"No, I haven't. Think he's still doing a few jobs for Zed. Him and Tina have been doing jobs together. Think their family is coming along nicely now."

"They're a bit dysfunctional, but they'll work it out." I then turned and faced the wall before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

"Robert. Robert. Night has fallen," I heard Lilith say while shaking me.

I rolled off my bed and onto my feet in an instant. But then I remembered something.

"Do any of you have a mask or something? I kind of need to keep my identity secret if I'm going to continue to play both clans," I asked Lilith.

"You're probably gonna have to steal a mask from a bandit without shooting him in the head or blowing him to pieces," she suggested.

"You do realize that's extremely difficult for me to do, right?" I told her.

"I know, but just try. Either that, use the customization station. We have bandits locked in the database," Lilith told me.

I'll do that," I said, walking to the Customization Station. At least there were a few default customizations here. I could change into the appearance of a badass marauder. If I had to look like a bandit, I might as well be a badass.

I traveled back to The Dust and drove a Bandit Technical to the Hodunks' camp. I jumped out and when I looked out at the trailers, there wasn't a single Hodunk in sight. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

"Get the gas tanks open, then hit them with a fire weapon. Dis may see... brutal, but the Hodunks started this," Mick told me. Wrong, I started this. But I'm not gonna tell you that.

I opened all the gas tanks and they started hissing. I did that before I teleported on top of a cliff with my fire Maliwan sniper my hands.

"Now hit the gas tanks with a fire weapon. Regular bullets will just bounce off," Mick told me.

I looked down the scope of my rifle and blasted the first gas tank. Following that were the screams of Hodunks. I then began aiming and blasting the other gas tanks.

"I don't apologize for dis. You go to war, you play to win. That means being willing to do what the other side won't. If that means burning people in their homes while they sleep, so be it," Mick said in a hard tone.

I simply stayed quiet and sniped the other gas tanks silently.

"What the hell's going on out there?!" I heard Jimbo exclaim, running outside. I didn't shoot him because I needed him to progress this war still. So I simply just jumped from my vantage point back into my Technical and drove off.

"Ho ho ho ho ho! You did well, boyo. Get to me boy Steve," Mick told me. I drove toward the waypoint Mick sent me before I got contacted by Ellie.

"So, Papa Zadford had you set those fools on fire, huh? That's pretty hardcore. If I know the Hodunks, they ain't gonna take this lightly. When they strike back, they're gonna strike back HARD," she told me.

"And that's exactly what I'm counting on," I told her. I jumped out of my Technical and saw a bandit standing near the exit to the Highlands. I assumed this was Steve.

"You Steve?" I asked.

"Heyo!" he exclaimed before handing me a couple of hundred for the job. I nodded and hopped back in my Technical.

"A few years back, an ex-Hodunk killed my son Lucky. We're holding our annual wake for him soon. I'd be proud to have you there," Mick told me. "Just make sure to arrive piss drunk."

"You'll see me there," I told Mick.

"The Zadfords have gone too far! We need a killer, and we need em now!" Jimbo exclaimed. To be honest, I was kind of ready for this war to be over with.

"I've got a better idea. How about we end this now? All soldiers on both sides meet in one place and we fight it out. Lynchwood train station is a perfect place," I suggested. Jimbo was silent on the other line before I could hear Pa Hodunk's gibberish.

"Pa likes this idea. And I know how you're gonna get them to get over there. They're having the wake a wake for their son Lucky. Get inside, and kill em all," Jimbo told me. "Think that'll push him to get the fight started."

"I'll get them there," I said ending the call with Jimbo and starting one with Mick. "Mick?"

"You nearly at the wake?" he asked me.

"We've got bigger problems. The Hodunks want you and your soldiers in a firefight at the Lynchwood train station. If you aren't there, they're gonna crash your wake," I told him.

"Why those... how'd you find this out?" Mick asked.

"Was listening in on their comms. They don't have the tech or the knowledge to know how to keep them secure," I told him. "What do you want to do? We've only got a half hour."

"Dammit. Fine. We'll hold off the wake until we win this war. Get on over to the train station. We'll meet you there," Mick told me, getting off the comm. I shut it off before I went to Sanctuary and changed back to my original attire. By the time I got back, it would be perfectly believable I crashed the wake already.

"Wake's been crashed. I left a message behind telling them to meet you at the Lynchwood train station. They're bringing everybody they got. I suggest you do the same," I told Jimbo.

"We'll be there. It's time to end this war," Jimbo said, shutting the call off.

"We're almost done here Ellie," I told her.

"I heard. Good job. Now, the Hodunks and the Zadfords are having a final battle, and you get to choose who wins. When you get over there, just blast away at whatever side annoys you the most. And remember, once you get there, you can't leave until at least one of the families is dead," Ellie reminded me.

"That is pretty obvious," I said, driving toward the train station. As expected, both families were already at the train station with their guns at their train station.

"Ah, me faithful soldier. Here to help me wipe out these rednecks, are ya?" Mick asked.

"The hell you mean your soldier? They's with us!" Jimbo exclaimed.

"My wart covered fanny, they is!" Mick said.

"We ain't sitting for more sitting for Zadford lies! Time to end this!" Jimbo exclaimed.

The battlefield then exploded with bullets from both sides, but I did nothing to step in. I just watched them kill each other. I didn't plan on either clan making it out alive.

After a while of fighting, I could see that Mick was still alive while holding a purple Jakobs revolver and Jimbo on the other side holding a purple Bandit SMG. It looks like Pa Hodunk, who was previously on Jimbo's back was dead.

"Why haven't you done anything?!" Jimbo exclaimed at me. I smiled.

"Cause I'm not on anyone's side in this war. I've been playing you fools from the beginning. Now you're both dead," I said, Phaselocking both Jimbo and Mick. I then drew my fire Maliwan sniper and blasted Mick in the head twice before blasting Jimbo. They were both dead and my pockets were bigger. I did take the purple SMG and Jakobs pistol from both clan leaders. At least I got a few good weapons out of this.

"So you killed em both?" Ellie asked me.

"Yup. I'm not leaving any loose ends to screw everything up. Now, I think I've earned some rest," I told her.

"Yeah you have. Thanks for the help," Ellie told me.

"No problem," I said, hopping back in my Technical and driving off.

* * *

A/N: Long ass chapter for ya all. I kind of skipped the next to last mission, but you already know what happened. Now, we'll be moving on to the most M rated chapter in the story next time. See you all.


	29. Chapter 29 - Sexual Inhibitions

A/N: First, let me address what's going to be in this chapter. A lot of sexual themes will be in this chapter. If you're not comfortable with it, skip it, and wait for the next chapter. There is a bit of a plot at the beginning and the lemon takes place at the end, so you can read that if you want. But don't say I didn't warn you. And if you noticed, yes I did change my username. It is a Mortal Kombat thing.

* * *

"My aim is not what it used to be," Lilith said, handing me my Jakobs revolver back.

"So it seems," I said, taking the revolver back. "You just need to get back into the spin of things."

"Even if I could aim as good as I could when I first started Vault Hunting, I'm still not beating you in accuracy. You could headshot a target blindfolded if you wanted," Lilith told me.

"How _are_ you so good at aiming?" Maya asked me. We had gone out to the Highlands, which still had a bit of bandit and stalker presence there, so the three of us had an opportunity to have fun killing stuff. It was also a sort of 'Sirens only' thing. It was something that the three of us could agree that would be fun. But right now, we were just lying in the grass and talking.

"Practice. You learn when you have to practice to aim with no sleep for two days. It's what my dad had me do when he trained me," I told them.

"Wait, so your dad had you practicing aiming while you hadn't slept for two days? Sounds like training for you was worse than anything the Order had made me do," Maya said.

"No kidding," Lilith said.

"I told my dad I wanted to know everything he did, and that involved the brutal training he went through when he wanted to be a great mercenary. But I wound up being a better mercenary than he did," I explained.

"How?" Lilith asked.

"Cause I'm a better shot and better at combat. I learned some skills of my own apart from my dad's teachings," I explained

"Well that makes better sense. My parents were killed after people found out that they were raising a Siren. I was 16 at the time. At that point I knew how to control my power, so I killed the mob and trained to be a mercenary. There wasn't much I could teach myself without the help of a pro," Lilith explained.

"And you're a successful leader of the Crimson Raiders nonetheless," I told her. Lilith grimaced.

"That wasn't what I had planned for my future. None of this was," she told me.

"We all find ourselves ending up in places that we'd never thought we'd be. It's why fate is a bitch," Maya said idly. I smirked.

"You're certainly right about that one," I told her.

"How long have we been gone from Sanctuary?" Maya asked. I looked at my ECHO.

"Eight hours," I said. Lilith's eyes widened.

"No way we've been here that long," she said. I smiled and handed her my ECHO as proof.

"They were right. Time certainly flies when you're having fun," I told her.

"Very much so. And we've just been talking the entire time. You think everyone will notice we've gone for so long?" Maya questioned.

"It would be hard not to. I mean, three Sirens just don't up and disappear at the same time unless it's by their choosing. Wonder what they're going to tell us when we get back," I wondered.

"Take a guess. One male, two females. All gone at the same time to a different place. A more private place. Add a little Moxxi psychology in the mix, and what do you get?" Lilith asked.

"A hot little threesome?" I asked rhetorically with a big smirk. I felt two hands strike the side of my face.

"Really?" Maya questioned.

"I had that coming, but hey. A guy can dream," I said simply.

"Yeah. A guy that's starting to think like Moxxi," Lilith noted. Before I could answer, Maya spoke up.

"Well, you are the one who suggested it," she said reasonably. Lilith turned slightly red while I smiled in a form of victory.

"Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks like Moxxi. But we have our own little dirty fantasies," I told them.

"And this is one of yours?" Lilith questioned.

"I can speak for all heterosexual males when I say this: who _wouldn't_ have a fantasy like that?" I questioned.

"I think I know more about your sexual desires than I want to. Let's get back to Sanctuary," Lilith said, standing up.

"This was going good until you turned the subject to sex," I said, standing up.

"Yeah, but you followed through on it," Maya said in the same reasonable tone she used on Lilith.

"It's my duty to prove that I am certainly not gay by relaying my thoughts on the subject. Believe me, it's been asked more than once," I told her.

"But it isn't necessary to tell us," Lilith told me.

"Why? Cause it would have you wondering what's under these clothes? Come on, you know you wanna peek," I teased her.

"Bite me," Lilith said, walking toward the Fast Travel.

"Kinky. I like it," I said, winking at her. Maya then slapped me in the back of my head.

"Could you be any worse?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes I could. But I won't on the risk of you both trying to strip the flesh from my bones," I said evenly. The two Sirens smirked.

We took the Fast Travel back to Sanctuary via a Technical we used to get around.

We walked in the center of town without a care in the world. Surprisingly, no one was there.

"They really didn't notice? Huh. That's kind of a surprise," I said.

"It really is. Anyway, could anyone else use a drink? We killed creatures for several hours with nothing to drink," Maya suggested.

"Definitely. I can't survive on Eridium and Sirens. I'd feel like a typical drug/sex addict," I said evenly.

"Isn't that the dream for most men? Emphasis on most," Lilith said. I smiled.

"You're learning. This pleases me," I said evenly. We walked back up the stairs and no one was up there either. But I stole a few drinks from Mordecai's stash he had up here. He drank too much anyway.

"Where you do you think they're at?" Maya questioned, taking a sip from her drink.

"Either everyone's at Moxxi's bar, or they're off killing stuff," I listed off the top of my head.

"That's fine. They're usually too loud anyway," Maya said, sitting on the console in the planning room. I flipped halfway forward and started walking on my right hand and holding my drink with the other.

"How do you even do that?" Lilith asked me.

"Practice Lily. Practice," I said while smiling at her annoyed look at the nickname. "What? You don't like the new name?"

"Stick with Lil. That's what everyone calls me," she said.

"Yeah, but that's not what I want to call you. It's too familiar," I told her.

"Do I get one? Then again, there isn't much you can do with my name, is there?" Maya asked. I balanced on the barrier with one hand, my shirt blocking my vision.

"Not really. The only thing I can really think off is My, and I'm not sure you want to be called that," I said, finding harder to speak with the blood rushing to my head.

"Definitely not. See if you can come up with something else. And nice abs," Maya complimented.

"Thanks," I said, leaning my feet forward so I could land on my feet. "Where is everyone?" (Note that this is the only time I'm going switch POVs. It's going to be third person to be exact. I'm only doing it for better explanation of how I'm going about this. You'll know when I've switched back)

* * *

Moxxi was wiping the counters while Krieg was drinking vodka.

"So where is everyone?" Moxxi asked.

"Well, Mordecai and Brick went off to go kill some stuff. As for Maya, Lilith, and Robert, I haven't seen them today. It's likely their doing whatever Sirens do I guess," Krieg explained, placing his lager on the table. Moxxi gave Krieg a dirty smile.

"We can only imagine the possibilities," she said with a wink. Krieg shook his head.

"For one, I know Robert, and he's not that type. Secondly, can you really put your mind to something other than sex?" he asked.

"Well, yes, but I prefer stay on the subject of sex," Moxxi said nonchalantly.

"You are impossible," Krieg said, taking another sip of his drink. Moxxi suddenly smiled.

"I want to make a bet. You can't tell Lilith, Maya, or Robert about it. It would ruin the fun of it," she said. Krieg lowered the bottle from his lips and raised a curious eyebrow.

"If I don't like it, I'm not going along with it," Krieg said.

"We give the three of them a lust potion. Unlike a love potion, there are conditions. If they don't have an initial attraction, if they have a ton of self control, are in love, or do not in fact want to have sex, it will not work. If all three of them end up affected by the potion, I win. If at least one of them is not affected by it, you win," Moxxi explained.

"I'm thinking about the odds here. Maya is likely to be affected cause Robert rescued her. Lilith is hard to judge cause of Roland. But there's no way you're gonna get Robert affected by it. He's mourning the death of the first woman he loved. It's not gonna happen," Krieg said confidently.

"I would've thought that you probably would've had a probably an issue in giving your friend a lust potion," Moxxi noted.

"To be honest, it would be a major stress reliever for him even if I am wrong somehow. Plus it's not as if they don't want to do it," Krieg said logically. "How are you going to get them to drink it and what's gonna happen?"

"I'll put it in some drinks at the party tonight. And here's what'll happen. If they're the least bit affected by it, they'll pretty much have the dirtiest thoughts about the person, or in this case, persons that the lust potion targets. It lasts for an entire Pandoran day, and it also halts the fertility of everyone for as long as the potion lasts. But it won't push them to go as far as rape or something like that if the person they're lusting after rejects them," Moxxi explained.

"The party's a perfect time to do it. I'm in. Alright, what do you get if you win?" Krieg asked.

"If I can get it on film, that's reward enough. What's your condition?" Moxxi asked.

"You know what? I'm not gonna have a condition. I'm just going to enjoy the fact that I can prove you wrong," Krieg said. Moxxi smiled before holding out her hand. Krieg seemed hesitant about shaking her hand, but he shook it.

"How long will it take to make?" Krieg asked.

"Depends on the time to get ahold of the things I need. I'm gonna do you a favor and not tell you," Moxxi said, walking in her back room. Krieg shook his head before taking another sip from his lager. The thing is, Moxxi was lying for the most part.(Switch POV back to my character)

* * *

"Instead of searching, I'm going to contact him on the ECHO," I said, pulling out my ECHO and connecting to Krieg's. "Krieg? Where are you at?"

"In Moxxi's bar drinking. Where have you, Lilith, and Maya been?" Krieg asked.

"In The Highlands killing shit. Sort of a 'Sirens only' thing. Mind if we join you for a few drinks?" I asked him. "We don't want to steal too many drinks from Mordecai's stash."

"I'd prefer if you were sober when we have the party," Krieg said.

"Party?" I questioned.

"Yup. We're having a big bonfire party tonight. We'll all play music, eat, get drunk. It'll be great," Krieg suggested. I nodded in satisfaction. A party sounded like a good idea.

"That sounds excellent. I'm sure Maya and Lilith will be on board with it too," I said with a wide, happy grin on my face.

"Good. Until tonight man," Krieg said, getting off the ECHO.

"What are you sure we'll be on board with?" Maya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're throwing a big bonfire party tonight. I think a party is what we all need. Do something fun that doesn't involve killing bandits or creatures," I said, the smile never leaving my face. "Whaddya say?"

"Sounds like fun. There better be plenty of food," Lilith said.

"If there isn't, how about all three of us just start tearing shit up?" I suggested.

"And you put me in this why?" Maya asked.

"We're the Sirenkateers. All for one, and one for all," I said, making the two Sirens face palm.

"You did _not_ just say that," Lilith said. I grinned shyly before shrugging my shoulders.

"I may be a Vault Hunter, I may be a mercenary, but I was a nerd before all of that. And I'm proud to admit it too. But that's besides the point. We have a party to look forward to," I told them. Maya and Lilith shook their heads at me before smiling.

"You know, you get more and more crazier the more we know about you. What's weird is that it's not necessarily a bad thing," Maya said.

"That's cause it is statistically likely that I will be the weirdest, yet most fun person that you ever meet. Now, nightfall does come until another few hours, so we have some time left over. Any ideas?" I asked.

* * *

When Krieg said a bonfire party, he _meant_ a bonfire party. There was literally a bonfire the size of small shack near the edge of Sanctuary where Scooter's garage was. I could see that they used the corpses of bandits for the wood. Got to give them points for brutality.

Krieg came up to the three of us with drinks in his hands for the each of us. He handed them to us with a wide smile.

"Big ass bonfire, isn't it?" he said, gesturing the giant fire. The three of us popped the tops off our drinks and took a sip before I spoke.

"No kidding. Who's idea was it to use the corpses of bandits? Brick," I said, the answer instantly coming out of my mouth when I asked the question. Krieg smiled.

"Good guess," he said.

"That was common sense really," Lilith said, taking another sip of her lager.

"Suppose so. But anyway, enjoy the party. But anything you want to cook, you have to do it on the bonfire," Krieg told us before gesturing to another large pile to the side. It was a wide assortment of thawed(but not cooked) skag steaks,(since I don't know any other foods that really exist in the Borderlands universe that I don't feel like researching, we're gonna just name regular foods. If dat's alright wit ya'll. Lord, I must look ratchet as fuck typing this way, huh? lol) hot dogs, chicken, and other meats along with other foods and desserts.

"You read my mind with the chicken. And I'm proud to take that racial stereotype by the horns," I said, laughing. Krieg, Maya, and Lilith simply shook their heads, but they couldn't resist smiling as well.

Over by the fire, I could see all of the Crimson Raiders with their helmets off either cooking food or talking. I could easily pick out Reiss and Davis out the crowd from their unique armor.

"Excuse me, but I have some friends I want to catch up with," I said, walking over to the two soldiers. They immediately saluted at me, making me roll my eyes.

"We're at a party gentlemen. Plus the war is over. You don't need to go through the military protocol bullshit," I said grinning. Reiss and Davis smiled before holding their hands out in a friendly manner.

"That's more like it," I said, firmly shaking both of the soldiers' hands. "How you both doing?"

"Excellent. Hey, we know you've lost a lot because of this war. We all have. But we have your back no matter what. We want you to know that," Davis told me. I nodded in respect.

"I appreciate that. It's... it's been hard dealing with the aftermath. But I certainly feel better. I can thank my fellow Vault Hunters and ex-Vault Hunters alike for that," I said.

"Good. But uh, you could say there are rumors among the Raiders that the three of you go out to The Highlands to fuck. That true?" Reiss asked bluntly. To say the least, I was... flabbergasted.

I was sure the look on my face was priceless. But the blunt tone Reiss used and the message itself caught me completely off guard.

"W-what?!" I asked in complete disbelief.

"Hey, soldiers have to have something to talk about. The fact that 3 out of six of our commanding officers are going to The Highlands, finding a nice, soft patch of grass to lay on before having a Siren threesome is at the top of the list," Reiss said just as bluntly. All of the blood in my body seemed to go in my face before I covered my face in embarrassment. Reiss did a better job of making me feel embarrassed than Krieg did when he was teasing me about Angel 24/7. And that's hard to do to say the least.

"That is NOT true, and if I catch you talking about again, they will be on the end of a triple Siren ass whooping," I said, my face dead serious now. Though it had a little bit less of an effect considering my face was redder than Lilith's hair, but the threat was still there. But Reiss simply raised his hands in surrender while Davis was chuckling.

"Now that would be fun to see. It will probably end with that Raider having some charred flesh and bruises. It'll be rough for him," Davis said.

"Especially if Lilith is in the fray. If anything, she might be just as vicious as me if not more. Maya will be absolutely reserved as she's whooping ass. She does that a lot," I told them.

"Sounds like you've gotten to know your Siren friends well," Reiss said.

"We're close. No doubt about that. I mean, it's not often that Sirens meet other Sirens to talk to. Most people don't know what having Eridium in your system feels like, but we do. Granted, Maya had it forcibly pumped into her through her back, but the point still stands," I said idly.

"We get your point. But what _does_ it feel like?" Reiss asked.

"It's a lot like when you feel water sloshing around your stomach, except it's everywhere and instead of a heavy feel, it's more like an elation. It's almost like you've been turned into a god. You can literally feel the power flowing through you. And you know what you can do with it. There's a very good reason why it's known as the Siren drug," I explained.

"Sounds like super heroin," Davis said bluntly, making me and Reiss snort.

"That's one way to put it. But accurate," I said, taking another swig and I felt a weird swoop in my gut. "Whoa. I'm not sure if this lager is sitting right with me." Then I could feel my cheeks flush a little before I began to feel a little lightheaded.

"Whoa, you always get like this when you drink?" Davis asked, grabbing the lager from my hand.

"No. I've drunk a lot more this. A LOT more than this. I don't know what's the prob-" I cut myself as a loud burp came out of my mouth and suddenly I was better.

"Robert?" Reiss asked me.

"Ok, I'm good now. That was weird," I said, grabbing my lager back from Davis. Then I started grinning widely like a fool.

"He's more than good now. He's high," Reiss said, making me roll my eyes.

"I don't smoke. Let's just cook some shit, I said, teleporting to the food pile and grabbing some chicken, placing some on my sword, and cooking it over the fire.

Loud music was blaring in the night sky, the smell of various cooked meats and desserts filled the air with a pleasant aroma. I was next to Maya cooking more food while Lilith was partying on the dance 'ground' to be exact. She was pretty damn good at it too.

"Not bad Lily. Not bad at all," I said silently.

"What was that?" Maya asked.

"Nothing," I said idly. Maya shrugged before putting a burger on a stick and cooking it over the fire.

"So, when you said you live up to your stereotypes, what did you mean by that?" she asked.

"There's a stereotype that all black people like chicken. You can fill in the rest from there," I said as I retracted my sword from near the fire and bit a big piece of chicken off.

"Didn't know that was a thing. But I'll take your word for it," Maya said. I said nothing as I let out a satisfied moan after I swallowed the piece I bit off.

"Damn, this chicken is good. Feels like my taste buds are tingling with pleasure," I said, taking another bite.

"That's not the only thing that's tingling with pleasure," Maya said idly.

My eyes widened and I nearly choked on the chicken I was chewing on. Did she really just say that? I looked back over to her and saw she wasn't facing me. My face was bright red after that sentence. Maybe I was thinking too much about what she said. But then my mouth began to speak before my brain even caught up.

"Talking about your red, juicy, soaking... gah! Burger! I mean, it doesn't look like you cooked it enough," I said, turning red and focusing on the burger patty that she had on a stick. _"The fuck was that all about?"_

"Yeah. Looks like it..." Maya said awkwardly. A small glance toward her direction and I could see her cheeks were bright red as well. When did we all of a sudden started talking in sexual innuendos?

All of a sudden, my fingers started twitching so violently while I was holding my sword to the point where I could barely keep it in my hand. I wanted to put my hand in a place that would definitely get me smacked.

"Yeah, imma go lie down," I said, removing the chicken off my sword, putting it back in my ECHO, and teleporting back to my room before laying down in my bed instantly.

My eyes were as wide as saucers as I faced the wall blankly. Now, I knew Maya was attractive to say the very least. The VERY least. But I would _NEVER_ say what I just did. I have morals to be a gentleman. (This coming from a guy who murders brutally without any remorse, but the point is not hard to get)

In a few months, I became a horny teenager out of over a decade of being a gentleman. And it's gradually getting worse. Even now, I'm tempted to go back down to Maya and ask her if she wanted to fuck and if Lilith wanted to join in.

_"Whoa. WHOA. WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" I thought furiously. _I gripped my hair and stood up before I began to bang my head on the wall rapidly. My forehead began to get sore, but I kept banging my head on the wall without halting. Maybe I could knock these fucking thoughts out of my head.

Thoughts lead to words, words lead to actions, and actions lead to consequences. Consequences that I'm sure that would not lead to anything good.

Then there was a flash of purple outside my door, but I still didn't stop banging my head on the wall. Then I heard my door open and I could feel a slender hand on my shoulder pulling me back.

"Why the fuck are you banging your head against the wall?!" Lilith exclaimed.

"You really don't want to know the answer to that question," I said before letting out a hiss in pain. "The fuck is that?"

"That is the feeling of you busting your forehead open. Tilt your head back," Lilith said, putting one hand on the side of my head and the other under my chin.

I tilted my head back and winced as soon as I did so. I really hurt my forehead.

"Goddammit. When it comes to pain, I have the hardest time feeling it, don't I?" I said, staying still.

"No shit. I assume you have some hypos? You really did a number to your fucking forehead. Think you may have bruised your skull," Lilith said.

"Fucking great. Yeah, I got a few," I said, summoning a hypo and injecting it into my neck. I could feel the wound close up and I sighed in relief.

"Ah. Much better. Why'd you come up here? The party's still going on," I asked her. I immediately saw her turn a deep red. Her too? Oh man, what the fuck is going on?

"I won't answer that question if you won't," she quickly said.

"I'm fine with that," I said almost as quickly. Then I began looking at my feet before sitting on my bed. My mind was still reeling from what just happened with Maya. It's not helping that I was now beginning to think the same thing about Lilith. I licked my dry lips before I talked.

"Well, thanks. I think I'll, um... I think I'll turn in early," I said, quickly turning around and getting up under the covers.

"I... I think I'll join you tonight," Lilith said, making my eyes widen.

"I-I-I I don't think that's a good idea," I stammered. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"And why not?" Lilith asked. "You were fine a few months ago. It's not like it's sexual." I closed my eyes tightly before speaking. Figure it was best to get out in the open before it led to something bad.

"I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not sure I can keep it that way," I told her, sitting up and looking at her. Her eyes immediately widened.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

_"What the fuck do you think it means?!"_ I exclaimed frustratingly.

"Oh, calm the fuck down before I smack you down," Lilith threatened. "Now, what's been going on? Does this have anything to do with how you're been more flirty with me and Maya? Cause I've been thinking it's been all for fun."

"It _was_ for fun. Now it isn't. Now I actually mean it. To put it in the bluntest of terms I possibly can, I want to fuck you and Maya," I said, immediately going red. "Goddammit, that makes me sound terrible."

"Yes, it really does. But you are a guy, and a guy has these urges..." I cut her off.

"You cannot logically explain me suddenly wanting to have sex with two women at the same time after a decade in a half of controlling urges like that since puberty. Do you know how controlled I am? I have never even masturbated. EVER. As a 16 year old guy who's only dated one woman, do you know how ABSOLUTELY _crazy _that is?" I explained with a deliberate tone.

"Ok... that's... probably not even humanely possible. How do you even control yourself?" Lilith asked.

"Even I don't know. I just do it. But what the fuck changed? Now I feel more sexually tense than Moxxi. _Moxxi._ Just let that sink in for a bit," I said, using unnecessary hand gestures to make my point.

"And how long has this been going on?" Lilith asked me.

"Ever since the party started. First it was small stuff. Like, I noticed how much more attractive the both you have gotten. Then it gradually built. Like how much sexier your body is. Or how good Maya's butt looks in jeans..."

"I got it, I got it," Lilith quickly said, her ears going red. "Well... what do you plan to do? Cause I can tell you this much. Banging your head against the wall is not going to help."

"Does Zed know how to perform prefrontal cortex surgery?" I asked hopefully.

"Zed isn't a licensed doctor. And for good reason. It's likely he would kill you if he tried to do that," Lilith explained. I groaned.

"FUCK. The only other idea would be to... you know," I said awkwardly. Lilith went red and I covered my face in my hands. This is not a conversation I planned on having with anyone. Especially a sexy, red-haired...

_"LET'S NOT GO THERE,"_ I thought furiously.

"Can't you just masturbate?" Lilith said, somehow turning even more red than she already was. Then I noticed her knees were slightly shaky and her eyes wild. Those were signs of nervousness. Were my voiced thoughts actually making her nervous?

"I know t-this is m-making you e-e-extremely uncomfortable," I said, my tone unable to stay steady because I was trying to control the dirty thoughts in my mind and speak at the same time.

"I-It's not y-your fault. I-I k-know it can't be easy b-being s-s-sexually tense," Lilith said, her tone just as shaky as mine. It was a tone that sent pleasant shivers down my back. Again, was not helping.

"D-don't talk like that._ Please_ don't t-talk like that," I near begged her. Kind of hard to control your inhibitions when the way the person's talking is turning you on.

Then I could hear the door open. I immediately turned around cause I needed something to turn my attention to other than Lilith's sexy body. Goddammit, I could already feel the blood rushing to my dick.

It was Maya at the door, and it turns out, that didn't help my cock become any less erect. If anything, it only made it worse. This had to stop. I was reaching a point of no return.

"Look, you both need to leave. NOW," I said urgently.

"No, not until you do one thing for me," Maya said sternly. Then I could see a very distinct lusty look in her eyes. It was driving me crazy.

"What is that?" I asked her hesitantly. Then she took a quick stride toward me and kissed me hard. I fell back on the bed with Maya kissing me forcefully. My body and mind couldn't hold back anymore.

I grabbed the back of her head and deepened the kiss. Our tongues were twirling around in each others mouths. None of us were experienced at this. We just went with what we were feeling.

Then I felt another tongue begin to lap at my neck. I didn't have to think twice to know it was Lilith. The heat from her saliva set my nerves on fire from the pleasure. God, this was wrong, but it felt _sooo_ right. I let out a small moan and right leg stiffened from pleasure. I didn't have the thought process to think about a damn thing other than what was going on right here, right now.

Then I could feel a soft hand over the pants covering my erect dick. I opened my eyes from a second to see Lilith's hand there. Then she slowly began to rub up and down.

"G-g-good Go-haaaad," I moaned out as she kept stroking. My cock was super sensitive and my erection was throbbing so hard, it hurt. It was agonizing. Then Maya leaned in near my right ear.

"How about... we let your cock loose from its prison. Hmm? Would you like that?" Maya whispered in a seductive tone. Her warm breath tickled my ear and I unconsciously shivered. I never knew Maya was one for dirty talk, but it drove me crazy from how sexy it sounded. I couldn't manage anything but a simple nod.

"I don't think he quite heard you," Lilith said, her hand grabbing my belt and incinerating it with her powers before grasping my cock from under my pants. I let out a strangled moan from the sensation.

"Then I'll ask again? Would you..." Maya then put her hand down my pants and started cupping my balls. "...like..." Then she began to massage them softly, making me arch my back. "...for your cock..." Maya and Lilith pushed me back on the bed before stroking faster. "...to be free?" These women were teasing the hell out of me. They really wanted to make me ask for it. They did a damn good job at it too. I wanted it _sooo_ badly.

"Yes. Stop teasing me," I groaned out before I felt my pants being grabbed by two pairs of hands and yanked off. Now I was mostly naked with only my shirt on.

"Now, you sit back..." Lilith said, at my side while Maya was at the foot of the bed, barely an inch from my balls. "...and let us service you for once." Then I felt a long lick on my balls and a huge slurp on my penis. My mind _exploded._

My body went into a spasm frenzy. The warm saliva from both women sent all of sorts of sensations through me, with none of them being unpleasant. My eyes became half lidded as Lilith took a particularly big slurp and I could swear this is what heaven felt like.

Maya focused her attention on one side of my nuts in particular and sucked on it like it was candy. I twisted my head to the side and my legs began lashing out on the edge of the bed. Nothing compared to this sensation. _Nothing. _

Then I felt a rushing sensation travel through my dick. It was unfamiliar to me, but then sensation began to build. And build. And build. Then I realized I was close to orgasming for the first time. I figure I should let them know. But words were difficult to form as of now.

"I-I-I'm about t-t-t-to-" That was as much as I could get out before it got drowned out by another moan. But Lilith didn't stop sucking. On the contrary, she actually sucked harder before beginning to bob her head up and down. Even Maya's sucking intensified.

I clenched my right hand into a fist before letting out my biggest moan yet. I felt the semen shoot out of my penis and straight into Lilith's mouth and she swallowed it like it was a lager. Then she looked up to make eye contact with me before smiling at me in a dirty way, but turned me on more than Moxxi ever could. Now it was my turn.

I took off my shirt, as I figured there was no point in having it on.

"I don't think those clothes will be necessary ladies," I said huskily. Maya looked directly at me before straddling my waist, in front my cock.

"If you wish," Maya said, removing her top. She had a modest black bra on that revealed enough of her b-cup boobs to nearly make me start drooling.

Then came the pants. She pretty much said 'fuck the pants,' and ripped the legs off before ripping the rest of it off, revealing matching black panties. I felt daring, and put my hand down the front of her pussy and rubbed my index finger up her clit ever so slowly. God, I couldn't believe how wet and moist it was down there.

Maya moaned loudly before I smiled dirtily and flipped her over on her hands and knees while I was on my knees, my cock teasing the entrance of her anus.

"You plan on stretching this anus tonight? Want to make it less tight, and more fuckable?" Maya teased, smacking her right ass cheek. By all that is holy, her jeans were way too modest. Her ass was just... mmm.

I smiled before easing my cock into her ass slowly. I saw her grit her teeth slightly. I knew virgins had to deal with a little pain because their holes haven't been stretched out yet. We were going to solve that problem today.

I patiently eased my cock inside. I was having to be patient. I wanted to take this slow.

Maya's breathing started to get heavier, but she stopped gritting her teeth from pain and her mouth was slightly agape as if stuck somewhere between pain and pleasure. Then I felt her back up into my dick more, moaning loudly. She was seemed more impatient than I was.

"S-start thrusting," she told me. I didn't question it before I slowly started pumping in and out of her.

I started off slow to test the boundaries of her anus. When I felt it was suitable, I started to speed up to where I had a steady rhythm going. My cock felt like it was being strangled by velvet, which made me arch my back while I was thrusting into her. I knew for a fact this sensation had to do with how tight her ass was.

"Faster..." she moaned out. I immediately started thrusting faster while my hands were on her hips to help my speed. I heard her give off a squeal of pleasure which quickly turned into loud moaning. I couldn't believe how badly this woman wanted it.

I then began to thrust as fast as I could while the room was filled with the slapping noise I was making against her ass.

"GOD!" Maya yelled out, gripping the sheets as tightly as she could. Then I could see her right hand go to her cunt and she started rubbing it in a frenzy. I licked my lips at the sight and began gyrating my hips while thrusting.

Her moaning somehow got louder before her knees and arms finally gave out on her and she collapsed on the bed, breathing heavily. I would see that the sheets were a little wet around her, which meant she had came. It looked like it had taken a lot of her too.

"I hope you saved some for me," I heard Lilith say.

I turned to her only to see her with her top off, her hands down her pants, and a wet patch directly in the front. You didn't have to think twice about what she was doing while I was preoccupied.

"Always," I said with a smile before I went over to her and picked her up and pushed her against the wall. She wrapped her legs around my waist while jerking my cock up and down. Damn, she had a good grip.

"I have a better idea," I said before incinerating her pants. Having Siren powers really made getting rid of unwanted clothing much easier. I then guided my dick straight into Lilith's vagina.

"Take it slow..." Lilith moaned out.

She was very wet already, so my dick had a little lubrication assist going in. I slowly eased my cock into her and let out a slow, drawn out moan at the sensation. She arched her back while her head was pressing down hard against the wall, but she didn't care.

Then all of my self control was lost. I backed her fully against the wall and started thrusting as hard as I could into her. She let out a small whimper at my action, but that quickly turned into screams full or pleasure. The possibility of us getting caught now increased quite a bit, but I didn't give a damn. I don't think Lilith did either.

"Your cock feels so good!" she yelled out. She was definitely a screamer by the way she was taking this.

Then I could feel another orgasm coming. I started letting out another strangled moan, unable to get a word out.

Lilith's legs gripped tighter around my waist and her walls clenched even harder on my cock.

"I'm going to milk your cock dry," Lilith whispered huskily in my ear, pulling me closer and started licking and nibbling on my neck. I groaned in pleasure as I felt my semen shoot into her. I could feel her shiver before she came onto my dick. My legs got weak from the sensation.

Then I felt exhausted. I set her down on the bed before collapsing on it myself. Maya was lying on her back, breathing heavily while looking at the ceiling. Lilith's breathing was heavy along with mine. Sex was tiring.

"So... there gonna be a round 2?" I questioned, looking between the two Sirens. They simply gave me a devious smile that definitely promised more.

"Mmm, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow," Lilith said, getting up under the covers. Maya did the same with me not far behind. Since there was still a shit ton of bodily juices all over the place, we were definitely gonna have to wash these sheets. But for now, we rested.

* * *

A/N: Well, that happened. If you actually read the whole thing, congrats. You are a horny motherfucka like me. I'd say it went pretty good, and this was the first time I wrote something like this. Will I write another lemon? Possibly. Depends on what's going through my mind. I hope you all enjoyed. (Most likely everyone who did is a dude)


	30. Chapter 30 - Regret

A/N: Last chapter was kinda random, but meh. It is what it is. Now, this will in fact be the last chapter of this story. I'm excited for that, and I hope you all are too. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

I felt two firm arms around my chest when I woke up. I opened my eyes to see Lilith with only a shirt on and Maya completely naked. I licked my lips at the sight, but at the same time, I couldn't stop myself from feeling guilty for being in the position I was in.

_"Someone who loved me died for me, and this is how I pay them back. By lying in the bed with two other women,"_ I thought with frustration.

_"They aren't _just_ women. Remember that,"_ another part of my mind said firmly. I couldn't help but agree with that. Lilith was an orphaned Siren turned leader, and Maya was a trained Siren who was bred from her childhood to be a warrior. Women of that stature couldn't be won easily. Even Casanova would've probably ended up with a foot in his ass if he tried. So why am I any different? Is it because I saved their lives?

I heard a knock at the door, sending my heart racing. I'd hate to think what would happen if this got around Sanctuary. It's not them knowing that makes it bad. What makes it bad is that they would question us as leaders. That's something we definitely don't need.

"Hey, it's Krieg. You in there man?" I heard from the outside of the door. Ok, this was a situation I could control better. Better than a random Raider, Brick, Mordecai, or god forbid Moxxi.

"Yeah, I'm here. Give me a minute to change clothes," I told him.

"That's cool," Krieg said. I could then hear his footsteps fade away. I leaned back into my pillow with frustration. Things would definitely not be normal after this.

I teleported out of the bed and in my closet so I could change clothes without disturbing any of the women. My clothes were the only ones generally intact out of all of them. I was only missing a belt, which was easily replaceable.

"Things will never be the same, will they?" I heard a voice say.

I turned around to see Lilith sitting up from the bed. I went a little red, but I did my best to keep my nerve.

"No. Far from it. I'll... I'll see you later. When our situation is a little less, hmm... awkward," I said, walking out of the room with a red face. I rubbed my face with of my hands and I wondered why my hands felt weirder than they normally did. They had a kind of stickiness feel...

"Goddammit," I said, igniting my hands with fire and my face going even redder as I walked down the stairs. Krieg was waiting by the door while Tannis was slightly snoring in one of her chairs. Krieg was looking at her curiously.

"You know I tried holding a conversation with that woman once," he said idly. My skin began to return to normal at the idle conversation.

"Really, what happened?" I asked.

"Well, one of her blood vessels popped from the stress of the situation, and that quickly put an end to the conversation. And I only said, 'How are you?' Among some of the strangest shit I've seen," Krieg said, shaking his head.

"Says the guy who used to go around yelling phrases about blood and meat," I told him idly. He laughed a little about that.

"True, true. Good times... Anyway, do you know where your Siren buds are? You didn't take one of your trips today?" Krieg asked. I turned a little red at the statement. I figured I would have a hard time keeping this hidden, due to my obvious embarrassment about the situation.

"Er... about that..." I trailed off. "I need to tell you something."

"What? That you've truly been smashing Lilith and Maya during these trips you take?" Krieg joked. I went an even deeper red. His smile quickly turned into a frown at my lack of a response. Verbal and/or physical.

"No, but... the three of us did have sex," I told him before burying my face in my hands from the embarrassment. Shock quickly overtook Krieg's face as his mouth dropped and his eyes were wide.

"What? You can't be serious!" Krieg exclaimed, making me shake my head. "Son of a bitch... when?"

"Last night. I couldn't really explain it, but something made just unnaturally lusty that night. I don't know what it was, but I just ended up wanting them more than I've wanted anyone else in my life. It's scary how drastic the change was. And that feeling has only lessened, not gone away," I told him.

"Well shit. So, did you lie about not knowing where Lilith and Maya are?" Krieg asked me.

"Yeah, they're in my upstairs bedroom. If anyone else besides me enters that room, they'll most likely be burned alive on the way out," I said.

"Well, thanks for telling me that before I walked up there. Ok, I feel as if I should be brutally honest with you about something," Krieg said. I shook my head.

"Don't wanna hear it right now. I don't need anything else screwing up my thoughts," I assured him, but Krieg wasn't having it.

"Nah, you need to hear this one. Remember that lager had last night? Turns out it was spiked," Krieg told me. My eyes widened.

"With what and by who? I wanna give them a piece of my mind," I said before cracking my knuckles.

"Me and Moxxi orchestrated it," Krieg said.

For a minute there, I just stood there frozen. Even though Moxxi was far from innocent, I wouldn't expect her to pull a move of such magnitude. Krieg's involvement shocked me especially.

"What'd you spike me with?" I asked in a near whisper.

"A conditional lust potion," Krieg said.

"What do you mean 'conditional?' What is _conditional_ about a _fucking lust potion?!" _I growled angrily. "I could've helped someone screw in a light bulb and the potion would've worked!" Now Krieg looked shocked.

"No, that's not what Moxxi told me," he told me.

"You believed her?! Even if what she told you was true, why would you even think about giving your friend a lust potion? I don't like them that way!" I exclaimed.

"There's a lot of things I can agree with, but that last one I can call bullshit on," Krieg said. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"I don't give a damn about what you call bullshit on. Get the fuck out of my sight," I said, my temper flaring up and my tattoos beginning to light up. Krieg nodded and walked out of the headquarters. That was a big mind fuck. I needed to calm myself. I walked to the Fast Travel and traveled to Three Horns. Killing bandits was the only thing I could think of to blow off some steam without blowing off some bullets into Krieg's sternum. (Turns out that last time wasn't the last time I would be switching POVs in this story. Eh. Shit happens)

* * *

"I can't believe this happened," Lilith said, covering her face in her hands. She couldn't really get dressed because her pants were ruined from the other night. She only had her shirt on.

"God. Roland... I'm sorry," she said, tears streaming down her face.

Lilith couldn't remember the last time she ever felt ashamed for her actions. She had killed hundreds of people, usually bandits. She betrayed Jack before he could even do anything, though that felt like the smartest decision at the time. She didn't feel a thing during any of that. It was business like usual.

But this... it was almost like spitting over Roland's grave. It just wasn't right. It's barely been a few months since the war ended, and she jumped into another man's bed. With another woman at the same time. But it didn't matter at the time to her. She wanted him. Even now she wanted him. And that made Lilith feel sickened with herself.

"You ok?" she could hear a female's voice behind her. Maya. Of course she was still here.

"Not really," Lilith said honestly. Maya sighed.

"This is about Roland, isn't it? Your boyfriend who died?" she asked. Lilith turned to face the woman, which was a little awkward since none of them had clothes on. But she managed a simple nod.

"You ever loved anyone?" Lilith asked. Maya shook her head.

"Not really. I mean, I've only known Robert for a few months, and I've grown very close to him. But I'm not sure I love him. Yet, last night, I felt more attracted to him than I ever thought possible. It was actually a little freaky," she explained.

"Yeah, I thought it was a bit strange. I don't think we're the only ones either. I remember he damn near begged me not to say anything that would possibly temp him further. It was like he was trying hold himself back. That can't be coincidental," Lilith deduced, before frowning. "No. I KNOW that something's up."

"How do you suppose we find out?" Maya asked, before tilting her head at a red blinking light over on the dresser. "Did either one of you turn that thing on?"

"Unlikely. Robert was trying crack open his head like a nut when I found him, so I doubt he cut that on. I know for a fact that I didn't do it, and if you didn't do it..." Then Lilith took a closer look at the camera. She recognized it on the spot. Her tattoos instantly flared up to a fiery orange before the camera automatically burst into flames.

"Whoa. Calm down. I'm guessing you figured out who did it," Maya said, waving her hands down.

"I've got a pretty good fucking idea. God, I wish Moxxi wasn't bisexual," Lilith said. Maya looked at the woman curiously.

"Why's that? A lot of people are bisexual," Maya said evenly.

"I know that, but if she wasn't, I'd teleport her here and beat the shit out of her. I think if I'm naked, she'll take the ass whooping easier if she... you know," Lilith said, going a slight red. Maya nodded.

"I see," she said evenly. Lilith looked at the other Siren strangely. She seemed _too_ calm about this.

"How_ aren't_ you mad about this? She videotaped us having... _that,_ and it's likely she's behind us doing it in the first place. How are you so calm?!" Lilith exclaimed.

"Two reasons. Number one, I generally handle things calmly. That's no different in this situation. And two, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I actually want to thank her a little," Maya said calmly. Lilith blinked really fast for a few seconds trying to process it before her expression turned into one of utter disbelief.

"I'm only saying this because I'm really curious. _Are you fucking nuts?_ She _drugged_ us! And you aren't pissed off about that?!" Lilith practically screamed in her face. Maya shook her head.

"No. Wanna know why? It's literally the only, and I mean the only moment I've ever felt wanted. Not like a warrior or a protector or something like that. I felt like a true woman for the first time in my life," Maya explained, with a different tone. This one wasn't calm like before. This one was more passionate. Lilith was shocked at the change of her tone, but that quickly changed into disbelief.

"That's sad. Have you really had no kindness in your life? I mean... nothing?" Lilith asked.

"No. Not until last night. Not only did it feel good physically, but emotionally. Like someone cares for me. He was rough, but it was good. He catered to what I wanted. He didn't just go crazy with what he wanted even though he easily could've. He just sat back and acted submissive, which is definitely not in his nature to do," Maya explained.

Lilith couldn't deny that last part really. He let the both of them take the wheel. Tell him what they wanted and he did it. It was more about their pleasure than his. That didn't really help the lust potion swimming through her system.

_"Even through the effects of a drug, he's still so damn considerate,"_ Lilith thought with some disbelief before speaking out loud. "I'll give you that much. But that's not how a woman should be catered the first time."

"Is there any specific way that a relationship _should_ be started? It doesn't matter how we start. All that matters is where we end up," Maya asked while biting her lip. And that's probably the part that scared Maya the most. Where _were_ they going? Not just with Maya, but with Lilith too. They were both in the middle of this. No denying that.

"God, I have a headache," Lilith said, rubbing her temples. "This is too much to think about."

"We don't have to think about it at all. We just have to wait for Robert's decision on things. If this was out of his will, he'll be feeling as guilty as you were if not more. He didn't sleep with not one, but two women. Doing that while mourning the loss of a loved one can't be easy," Maya explained in her usual rational tone. Lilith bit her lip. In her own thoughts, she didn't think about that. She was right. This couldn't be easy for him to deal with.

* * *

With an angry grunt, I forced my sword straight into the bandit's stomach. Then I pushed it deeper in and he groaned from the pain of it. Then I did it again, and I could feel weak fists hitting my arm, but it didn't do a damn thing for me. I then raised the sword straight up and cut him in half from the stomach up.

"Bitch," I said spitefully as he hit the ground. That was the 5th bandit camp I wiped out. God, where to do these fucking parasites come from? But they had some uses I suppose.

But I didn't feel any better than when I first arrived. I shot an explosive barrel next to a crate before sitting down on it. I then put my hands on my head while I was directly facing my lap.

_"God, why the fuck did they do that?"_ I thought to myself angrily before it quickly turned into sorrow and regret. _"Angel... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do what I did. I couldn't stop it."_ No matter how much I prayed and begged that it never happened, it did. And I couldn't change that. It was disrespectful. Not only to Angel, the woman who gave her life and her love for me, but both Lilith and Maya.

Lilith was in the same boat I was. She lost the love of her life while none of us could do anything about it. It couldn't be easy on her dealing with what she did. Maya was a bit more complicated. I knew she said she hadn't been loved by anyone, but I knew that's not what she needed to feel loved. She needed kindness, compassion, respect. Things a woman of her stature deserves. Not sharing a man with another woman in the same bed at the same time. She didn't deserve that.

Then there was Krieg. I knew he thought that there were conditions on the lust potion, but that still doesn't excuse the fact that he didn't say anything to me about it and practically drugged me. How could I trust him? Even if I wanted to so desperately forgive him, I couldn't bring myself to do it now.

One thing was for sure. I couldn't go back to Sanctuary. I could still feel this lust potion running through my veins, which was temporarily quelled by my rage. Now that that rage was gone, it left me all the more vulnerable. The first time was a mistake. I couldn't let it happen a second time. I'd wrap myself in one of those Siren collars and lock myself in a cage before I'd do that again.

Then I got a call by ECHO. I prayed to God it wasn't Lilith, Maya, Krieg, or Moxxi. I couldn't talk to either one of them right now without losing myself in different ways.

"Ah, hello old chum! I hope you are well?" I could here Hammerlock question on the ECHO. I sighed in relief. Good. Someone I could actually talk to.

"Hey, Hammerlock. Haven't talked to you since that job about Ol' Slappy. How are you?" I asked kindly.

"Fairly good, thank you for asking. Certainly be glad to be rid of those moonshots from Hyperion. But I would like to ask you a question," Hammerlock asked.

"Fire away," I told him.

"Have you ever heard of the Pandoran continent called Aegrus?" he asked me.

"No. As far as I'm concerned, there are only certain parts of Pandora that I've been to, but out of all of the places I've ben to and all of the area that they cover, that I've only been to one continent?" I questioned in disbelief.

"To be quite honest, you've barely discovered half of this continent. But that is not my point. Anyway, Aegrus has quite a variety of creatures, and I know you like hunting some decent game yourself. How about a nice hunting trip? Just the two of us. It would perhaps get your mind of the aftermath of the war and such. What do you say?" Hammerlock asked.

This was perfect timing. I would need time for this lust potion to wear off, and to be honest, some time away from those two would probably be for the best. But tempting myself to leave was going to be difficult.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I think I need a few days to myself anyway. How long are we going to be there, and how are we getting there?" I asked him.

"I know the coordinates to a Fast Travel in that location. I'll punch them in, and you can arrive tomorrow any time you like. They'll be wiped from the Fast Travel after you get here so no one can follow us. I'm already camping out here. We'll set out for the lodge when you arrive," Hammerlock explained to me.

"Sounds like a plan," I said, ending the call. I needed to pack. I took a car to the nearest Fast Travel before traveling back to Sanctuary.

I walked back up to my room and noticed that Maya and Lilith were still up here with no clothes. They immediately stopped talking and had their eyes glued on me. I swallowed hard before making eye contact.

"You're still up here?" I questioned.

"Yeah. After all, you did ruin our clothes," Maya said, gesturing to the tattered pieces of her pants. There wasn't even anything left of Lilith's pants. I blushed. I remember every detail of that night like it just happened 5 minutes ago.

"Yeah. I'm so sorry about that. You have any replacements?" I asked.

"I came to Sanctuary with nothing. That hasn't changed," Maya said evenly.

"I've got clothes, but I haven't walked out there on the risk of getting caught. They're in a drawer out there," Lilith explained, before facing Maya. "You can borrow some of my clothes. At least, until we get you some more."

"That'd be good. Thanks," Maya said.

"I'll get em. After all, I'm the one who ruined them," I said, walking out of the door. I went fishing through the drawer Lilith and got clothes for both her and Maya.

"Going fishing?" a voice said. I turned to face Moxxi before angrily standing upright.

"Don't fucking talk to me," I growled before pushing past her and locking the door behind me. I tossed the clothes on the bed before putting my fists on the side of my head and closing my eyes tightly, trying to hold back my anger.

"What's wrong?" Maya asked me in concern.

"Moxxi's out there. I'm doing my best not to blow my top. Let's just leave it at that," I said, pacing around the room. "I'll be glad to get away from here for a few days."

"What do you mean by that?" Lilith asked, her pants finally on.

"I'm going hunting with Hammerlock in Aegrus this weekend," I told them.

"Don't you think there's a situation we should handle here?" Maya insisted. I sighed.

"What's there to figure out? Moxxi drugged the three of us with a lust potion, and we fell in the trap. I'm dealing with so much frustration from the situation, that a few days away from here would do me some good," I said as I began to pack some clothes up into my ECHO.

"I sincerely hope you aren't blaming yourself again," Lilith said, her tone somewhat irritated. I shook my head.

"No. I'm not. But I still feel guilty. It would've been better if I couldn't remember. Every detail is so vivid. I remember how much I _enjoyed_ it. That I knew I would never desire anyone like this. And that hurts when I think about Angel. Feels like I spit over her grave. That when I told her I loved her, it meant absolutely nothing. You have _no_ idea how that feels," I said, tears beginning to brim in my eyes.

"Robert..." Maya started but I cut her off.

"NO. My mind's made up. I need the days away from here to think about this. Being around here doesn't help me whatsoever. The change of scenery will do me so good. I'll see you in a few days," I said, walking out of the door and angrily wiping the tears from my eyes. I hope I could find what I really wanted on this trip.

* * *

A/N: And that concludes Borderlands and the Male Siren! This ended up having a pretty good length, and I'm proud of that. I'm grateful to everyone who stuck around and enjoyed the story. I felt as if I had to end it off with an emotional note. Of course, you won't find out what happens until after I start . Which I might not start until I start 'Hunting Some Real Game,' which will be the name of the Hammerlock's Hunt story. Anyway, the first chapter of Hyperion Vault Hunter might be uploaded sometime this week, so watch out for that. Peace!


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